July 4, 2019

The Honorable Marco Rubio

284 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators Rubio and Scott:

I am compelled to write you both this Independence Day because of the sadness I feel for our country and its behavior expressed to “the other” in our communities. Specifically, I am distressed with our nation’s treatment of migrant children as they are separated from parents and families to be located into “detention centers” throughout our country. Alas, let us call those “detention centers” for what they are: Pediatric prisons. 

The only crime these children are guilty of is following their parents’ instructions to cross our country’s border; for their dream, “these huddled masses yearning to be free,” they were jailed. The treatment  and living conditions of these children and their parents is inhumane according to any standard; would you sit quietly if your children were pulled from you as you crossed into Mexico and they were placed in euphemistic “detention centers” and treated as we are treating our neighbors from the 2/3 World in Homestead, Florida?

I humbly urge you to please lead our nation at a time when it needs leadership.  Please have the testicular fortitude to stand up, voice and vote with justice on matters like the migrant issue. No, our President may not appreciate it but at least you will rise above the fray and show yourselves to be the leaders you are capable of becoming in leading our nation out this political morass. 

Please know I pray for each of you and your families for wisdom, strength and courage.  I am

Sincerely yours,

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.