We're losing her

This has been coming for a while. I just got the news tonight. In situations like this, people don't always communicate with the Young Women's group first. That's understandable.

Our ward is associated with the Spanish branch in our stake. We have joint Primary and youth groups. In my Mia Maids class there is one Spanish speaker, Wendy G. She's our class president, a straight-A student, a beautiful girl with a tiny frame and very striking, Indian features. She wants to be an attorney. Her dad is gone after some difficult marital drama a few years ago, so she lives with her mom and three younger -- much younger -- siblings. Or, I should say, lived.

Immigration came at 5 a.m. two Thursdays ago, banging on the windows of their immaculate home, the home they've owned for about ten years and poured their blood, sweat and tears into. They hauled them all -- mother and children -- to jail in Fresno. An aunt came to get the kids. Mom was put on a bus, first to Arizona, then to Texas, then dumped across the border. Not in her home town further into Mexico. Just across the border. Ultimately she decided it would be best to resettle in Tijuana. By herself.

The kids came back to their home, where they have been staying with an older cousin until the school year ended today. This weekend they're packing and cleaning. With their aunt's help, they'll rent the house out and stay here so they can go to school. Apparently on the other side that opportunity is not quite the same. And the kids were all born here; they have a right to an education in the United States. Their mom wants them to stay and take advantage of that. As U.S. citizens, they can visit her periodically without having to worry about being able to get back in.

The youngest of these children is six. Wendy, the oldest, is only fifteen. They have effectively lost their mother. This is a crime and a shame and a sin.

I know there are some -- among my dearest friends, even -- who will say that they never should have come here the way they did, that they should have done it legally. But I don't think most of us realize how very nearly impossible that is to do. Between bringing up a family in their homeland and bringing up a family in the United States, they made their choice. I think it was the same choice I would have made in their position. They came here the best way they could and tried for fifteen years to make their residence legal, to no avail. How is that fair or right? They bought a home, they went to community college, they worked so, so hard. They brought up delightful children who are a credit to them and an asset to the rest of us. They sacrificed their own security for that. The future for those children is undeniably brighter because of the opportunities they have here. If, that is, they can overcome the outrage of losing their mother.

I'm no legal genius, but I think it's possible that the laws intended to keep immigrants out of the United States are unjust laws that beg to be broken. I don't believe in the supremacy of law just because it's law. Laws that are morally wrong should not be obeyed. From the Boston Tea Party to Rosa Parks, that is a very proud heritage we have in this country. If a law is not right, then those who break it are to be admired. They may be arrested and then sent through due process so the law can begin to change. That's part of the process and a sacrifice made by those who are committed enough to change to engage in civil disobedience. But they should not be deported without ado and forgotten.

I'm not saying this is exactly like imprisoning Nelson Mandela. Wendy's mom was not a freedom fighter in an organized movement. She was just trying to do what was best for her family. I don't know if that makes the actions of our government better, or worse. But the effects of those actions are, to our shame, not very different.

If you don't mind adding Wendy's mom and her four children to your prayers and maybe even your fast this Sunday -- well, think about doing that. Especially Wendy, my Mia Maid class president, your fellow American who is fifteen years old and has just lost her mother to a pre-dawn immigration raid.