AUGUST 2018
cn0818_0144
cn0818_0144
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in my VIEW<br />
I’ll take more taxes and my friend’s dignity back<br />
MICHAEL G.<br />
SARAFA<br />
SPECIAL TO THE<br />
CHALDEAN NEWS<br />
The arrest of hundreds<br />
of Chaldeans<br />
by Immigration<br />
and Customs<br />
Enforcement (ICE) over<br />
the last 18 months is<br />
well known and has been<br />
well documented in these<br />
pages. But it is important<br />
that we remember, on<br />
an individual basis, the<br />
human cost of what was<br />
done.<br />
A friend of mine was one of<br />
those picked up by ICE just before<br />
Christmas last year. He ended up<br />
spending six months in Calhoun<br />
County Jail before being released<br />
in June. The crime he committed<br />
happened more than 35 years ago.<br />
He’s now in his 60’s.<br />
During his confinement, I visited<br />
him twice. Both times he cried<br />
when I came and cried when I left.<br />
He looked distraught. He was confined<br />
to a 10 ft. by 12 ft.<br />
cell with another inmate<br />
for 18 hours a day. When<br />
he couldn’t breathe late<br />
at night, they would give<br />
him a nebulizer as if he<br />
had asthma. One guard, if<br />
she was on duty, would let<br />
him walk around to calm<br />
his anxiety. There were<br />
nightmares.<br />
Yes, he’s out now,<br />
thanks to a ruling by a<br />
federal judge – which the Trump<br />
Justice Department is appealing.<br />
Yes, he’s back with his wife and he’s<br />
back to work, though his dog died<br />
while he was away.<br />
But the nightmares and anxiety<br />
continue. He wakes up in a panic<br />
at the thought of those in jail he<br />
became close to that are still there<br />
under the threat of deportation. He<br />
dwells on the young Mexican mom<br />
that used to walk around mumbling<br />
about her kids. In her mid-20’s, she<br />
looked 50, he told me. There was<br />
the Chaldean guy in a wheelchair.<br />
My friend is sure he’ll die in prison.<br />
I’ve invited him over the house<br />
five or six times for rice and curry.<br />
That’s what he was craving when<br />
he came out. He called the other<br />
day to apologize for being distant.<br />
He’s not himself, he said. He’s having<br />
trouble sleeping and wants to<br />
be by himself all the time. He goes<br />
to work but says he’s in a daze. His<br />
appetite is gone.<br />
He asked me if I knew a psychiatrist.<br />
I suggested he start with<br />
a psychologist. He still wants to<br />
come over for rice and curry, but<br />
he needs some time. The scotch we<br />
would talk about having together<br />
when he came out, that’s not going<br />
to happen. Having a drink with<br />
a friend is something to do for fun<br />
and to celebrate. Life is no fun for<br />
him anymore.<br />
I reminded him on a visit to jail,<br />
that he was a Trump supporter. His<br />
wife voted for him with his blessing.<br />
He is not a citizen so he can’t vote.<br />
She won’t be voting for Trump next<br />
time around, that’s for sure.<br />
When my friends and colleagues<br />
extol the virtues of Trump, we hear<br />
about the tax cut, about the low<br />
unemployment rate, about Neil<br />
Gorsuch being on the Supreme<br />
Court.<br />
I’m good with all those things.<br />
But I would gladly trade all of them<br />
for my friend’s dignity and happiness.<br />
They were stolen from him by<br />
the American government. I hold<br />
Trump personally responsible.<br />
When I go to the polls in two<br />
years, I won’t be thinking about my<br />
marginal tax rate. I’ll be thinking<br />
about my friend.<br />
Michael Sarafa is Co-publisher of<br />
the Chaldean News.<br />
JOIN OUR<br />
GROWING TEAM.<br />
The Chaldean News is looking for motivated<br />
candidates to fill full-time salaried sales positions.<br />
Qualified candidates should email a resume to<br />
info@chaldeannews.com.<br />
8 CHALDEAN NEWS <strong>AUGUST</strong> <strong>2018</strong>