Mass deportations are not only cruel, they threaten the very soul of America | Social Views

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to start mass deportations of as many as 11 million people who are living illegally in the United States. Many of them have family and friends in this country, and many are doing jobs Americans born here consider beneath them.

Author Sarah Towle says Americans need to understand exactly what the looming deportation of millions of people means. And it's not pretty. In fact, Towle's research show our deportation policies are mean and vicious to vulnerable people, and far from what Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha or Krishna taught. If you're a disciple of any of these, look it up for yourself.

In her book , "Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Brorderlands," Towle describes the torture many people have suffered after fleeing homelands where they faced certain death for themselves and their families.

Speaking at Grace United Methodist Church in Harrisburg just before the Nov. 5 elections, Towle laid out in stark detail the brutality men, women and children experienced when the lucky ones actually reached the southern border of the United States. Many of them had valid and verifiable claims for asylum under both U.S. and international law, she said. Most were not criminals, as she documented. They were ordinary people who had no choice but to flee for their lives, often with their precious children in tow. Put yourself in their shoes.

But whether they were caught trying to sneak across the border, or if they met an agent and asked for asylum, they often faced the same fate – being treated like sub-human criminals. Towle says we shouldn't blame those carrying out the cruelty. The blame lies with the voters who sanction such policies.

"They are kept so cold, ostensibly to kill bacteria, they are known as aka "iceboxes" or "cold houses," she wrote. Then, they are put in "dog pens" where they could remain for days. Finally, most were sent to detention centers, where there was more torture.

"Adults are shackled in five-point restraints," she wrote, "wrists and ankles bound in metal cuffs and ties into a hay waist chain . . . then they are handed off to ICE."

In the dozens and dozens of interviews in Mexico and at many areas of the U.S. southern border, Towle described government-sanctioned cruelty that should make most good Americans cringe.

Towle also made it clear in her book and to the people at Grace Church that these are not just policies the Trump Administration carried out. It seems to be the American way of dealing with immigrants from the southern border.

The administration of President Jimmie Carter, who taught Sunday School at the Marantha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., started the practice of putting people in cages at the border. Maybe the president didn't know the details, but he should have.

Then, as Towle wrote, "Reagan turned cages into big business."

Towle doesn't give Democratic President Bill Clinton a pass, either. He kept the big immigrant torture business going. But "It was the younger Bush, 43," Towle wrote, "who introduced the idea of imprisoning whole families ..."

Bottom line is this has been America's way of dealing with the downtrodden. And, with Trump's mass deportation threat about to become reality, many fear we're entering a new era of atrocities against people praying for understanding and compassion.

Pray that we, our children or our grandchildren never have to beg for mercy.

In "Crossing the Line," Towle has done her best to provide enough excruciating details to help Americans understand and empathize with the huddled masses now yearning to be free. America once beckoned people thirsting for democracy. Now, we demonize them. There's got to be a better way.

In "Crossing the Line," Towle is trying to awaken America's compassion and morality toward refugees. She is also reminding us of the values that created the world's greatest democracy and the abundant life too many of us take for granted. All of this is now at risk if we lose our values, if we harden our hearts.

If we don't hear Towle's message, it's not just the people yearning to be free who will suffer, but Americans inevitably will lose the very soul of a nation whose foundation is built on welcoming the downtrodden and providing a haven for the oppressed.

Joyce M. Davis is PennLive's Outreach & Opinion Editor. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter Quality local journalism has never been more important. You deserve the best. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.