Anna's story is not
the only story I could tell you.
There's Mateo, an 18-month-old boy,
who was ripped from his father's arms
and sent to a government shelter
thousands of miles away,
where they failed
to properly bathe him for months.
There's Amadou,
an unaccompanied African child,
who was held with adults for 28 days
in CBP's horrific facilities.
Most disturbingly, there's Maria,
a pregnant refugee who begged
for medical attention for eight hours
before she miscarried in CBP custody.
CBP officials held her
for three more weeks
before they sent her back to Mexico,
where she is being forced to wait months
for an asylum hearing
in the United States.
Seeing these horrors
day in and day out has changed me.
I used to be fun at parties,
but now, I inevitably
find myself telling people
about how our government
tortures refugees at the border
and in the detention camps.
Now, people try to change the subject