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AUGUST 2018

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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>

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