Huddled masses locked in chains with heads bowed and shaved,
Despised by guardians of freedom—purveyors of ideal;
They sneer, “Cast out, wicked stranger; foreigner scum!”
“We are not who you say we are.”
A poem by Matt Till, March 25, 2025.
The harsh reality of deporting migrants and foreign travelers is becoming more apparent and alarming day by day. Sanctioned violence undermining basic human rights and due process is not only unconstitutional and inhumane but creates an unnerving precedent with untold trauma for the rest of us. Migrants are not the terrorists or criminals some would want us to believe.
In a recently published article, Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian actress and entrepreneur, openly shared her harrowing story of an unprovoked detainment by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this year while traveling to the United States on a visa.[1] She describes her experience with a complicated and secretive immigration system. She explains how she was suddenly detained without cause, explanation, or what rights she would be given as her belongings were taken from her, including a cell phone with vital numbers and access to the legal help she would soon need. In vivid detail, Mooney shares the conditions of being held and moved from one cold, fluorescent-lit holding cell to another, each shared by other women with similar stories. There, they lay on concrete floors with nothing more than aluminum thermal blankets and the clothes on their backs. After two weeks in custody and growing national attention, she was released without explanation and is now telling her story.
Migrants are not the terrorists or criminals some would want us to believe.
Additional accounts of women held at an ICE detention center in Miami, Florida have also come to light where one described the facility as “hell on earth.”[2] And now most alarming, the United States has exposed over 25,000 migrant children who traveled alone to the United States over the years and are awaiting decisions on their lawful status, will be without legal representation.[3] The move puts thousands of innocent children at risk of further exploitation and violence. They are the chilling reality of thousands of voiceless men, women, and children in America today.
In public, we have already witnessed a highly orchestrated and legally dubious mass deportation effort of suspected Venezuelan gang members to a mass holding facility in El Salvador.[4] With a well-produced propaganda video and a backdrop fit for an action film, well-armed masked guards marched prisoners one by one off in chains, shaved their heads, and into holding cells not unlike the dark and vile images of those who incite real terror in the world. That weekend, American leadership and their supporters celebrated the dehumanization of others without proven cause and in striking historical irony. For all to see, everything American patriots once claimed it was against—terror and the oppression of others—is being sanctioned, enabled, and funded with billions of tax-payer dollars.
As people of hope and change, we cannot allow ourselves to turn a blind eye to the cruelty of others—regardless of who they are, what they believe, where they are from, or the circumstances that brought them into our gaze. They too, are fully human in flesh, bone, and blood.
As people of hope and change, we cannot allow ourselves to turn a blind eye to the cruelty of others.
When violence is committed against another, we rightfully respond with a hunger for fair and humane justice. We do so believing how we treat one another reflects how we perceive ourselves and the world we intend to create. A world that values violence creates more violence, but a world that values love cultivates more love. Cruelty demonstrates weakness because it’s easy; compassion is a show of strength because it’s hard.
Change begins with us as leaders of hope. It begins with seeing, listening to, and cultivating trust with our neighbors—including the stranger and the migrant. Change occurs when a movement of hope built on the values of holism, openness, progress, and equity drives our conversations and desired outcomes. Change does not wait for others, but courageously engages, shares, and seeks out those who want more of the same: a better tomorrow for everyone, everywhere.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/canadian-detained-us-immigration-jasmine-mooney
Matt Till 