I met an undocumented man and fell in love.

If you read my book TOÑO LIVES you know that my husband was captured and jailed after an attempted train robbery. This was after many successful ones. He was an undocumented person in 1985, and the feds took him down and put him in jail. But he was never treated inhumanely, he was just another person from Mexico on a sunny day in Texas.

The other day Senator John Cornyn of Texas tweeted, “President Biden has instead emphasized the humane treatment of immigrants, regardless of their legal status. @nytimes.” Imagine not believing humane treatment is the way.

Texas is where my husband went to jail, and also where he lived for 10 years before I met him — 33 years ago today, March 25, 1988.

Illegal immigration has been happening for decades. It won’t be stopped as long as people strive for more. But when the time was right, a certain sector of politicians (even before Trump) whipped it up like a well-beaten frosting and gave us the fears and carefully siphoned anger we needed ro make it an issue.

Is it an issue?

This may not be something anyone wants to debate with me because I won’t say the things you want to hear. I believe all humans in their quest for safety have a right to be treated humanely. We’d do well to remember that many undocumented persons are seeking safety from devastating violence, and many — like my husband when he was 10 years old — a way out of poverty and abuse. I imagine all of them as a young George, taking a chance like no other. He didn’t try to seek asylum, but he did cross many, many times on his own.

I’d like to think that we treat people humanely no matter their status. But I remind myself we live in a world that suffered the Holocaust. They were treated as numbers to destroy. We can be the most vicious and cruelest of creatures.

Biden will not be a savior, but at the very least he is trying to stem the inhumanity.

I’m for open borders.

Welcome everyone, come on in.

I don’t believe unaccompanied children should be caught and deported. I don’t believe families should ever be separated, causing the destruction and cruel policies we saw through the Trump regime. I will not like everything Biden does with immigration. I didn’t like a lot of what Obama did. Bush committed many atrocities, yet I have a small liking for him because he was sympathetic to Mexico and her people. It doesn’t erase what he did.

When I hear hateful, fearful words directed towards immigrants, I picture a small George crossing the border on a starry night, hopes and fears jammed inside his throat as he makes a big decision. I see him swinging up on a train, learning how to duck and evade border patrol agents, the rhythm of the train swaying underneath him. I don’t need anyone to tell me or him that it was wrong.

Does love make me open to things others are afraid of? I’d like to think it’s because I want humanity to be treated well, but if love causes change in one person then that’s a start. We have to lay down the fear and chaos and begin somewhere.