Inside Trump’s Child Prisons With Maria and Carlos.

Zero Tolerance for Empathy and Humanity

by Steven W. Rouach

“Carlos, try to stop crying. It’s already hard for you to breathe”.

“I miss mi madre, Maria, what if she’s gone forever? The m-m-m- mean man said I’ll never see her again”.

“We have to be strong for the tiny babies, Carlos, no one will take care of them if we don’t”.

“They lied to her… mi mamá. She told me the people here were good… when we were running away from the men with the fire. We were so scared. I heard my friend Juanita screaming when they went into her casa. Then her parents were screaming, but we ran away from the village before they could get us too. Mi mami said there were nice people here in America. She said we’d be safe. They lied to her, Maria!”.

“You’re cinco years old, Carlos and I’m nueve. We have to be strong for niñita Mariee, so that she doesn’t get sick like Filipe… Remember how cold his skin was when we tried to wake him up? I was so sad when they took him away. I hope he’s in heaven… he was 8, but Darlyn was already 10 when she got sick and her heart stopped working”.

“Jakelin was 7. Remember when she died on the bus? She helped take care of Wilmer before he got sick, but he was only 2. Then she got sick. I hope mi mami isn’t sick. Oh, Maria, I miss her”.

(Carlos starts to cry louder).