A childhood educator supports Harris & Waltz

Dear Editor, 

As a long-time early childhood educator, I was responsible for the safety of many 3, 4, and 5-year-olds. I believe in the sacred duty to love, nurture, and protect the vulnerable young. One of the most troubling teacher trainings I ever experienced addressed the need to have a plan for the scenario when no parent was available to receive the child at the end of the school day. Why, you rightly may ask, would a child be sent off with a hug to school in the morning and have nobody to care for them a few hours later? The answer: Because parents employed picking fruit, canning asparagus, building houses, or providing elder care might have been detained by surprise and locked up for immigration violations. They might have been detained from various work sites around Washington. So, as a preschool teacher, I needed to think about my young students suddenly losing their parents. 

In 2017, I was mortified by news of intentional separation of children from their parents as a Trump policy aimed at deterring unauthorized border crossing. The more children suffered, went the strategic thinking, the less parents would want to cross our border with children. Child safety and well-being was not a consideration. Officials didn’t even take care to track which kids belonged to which parents. There were daily flights from Brownsville Texas to Boeing field in Seattle to keep detention beds full in Tacoma. Separation in and of itself was deemed necessary for success. My profession has a term for such inhumane treatment of children . . . child abuse. The courts agreed. 

Fortunately, our current leaders put an end to this horrific policy. Many of the traumatized families who endured separation have now been reunited. I have met mental health professionals dealing with the profound damage these young people suffered. The Bidden Harris administration prioritizes keeping families intact. They also have a bipartisan plan to secure our border. 

One of many reasons I will vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Waltz.

Respectfully,

Paul Ihle

Dayton, Wash.