Molly McGrath Tierney

In the Baltimore Sun 2014

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bs-ed-children-letter-20140718-story.html

Children Should Be Welcomed

Over the past several months, the matter of children fleeing violence in their Central American countries for safety in ours has entered into our national conversation (“Carroll’s revealing ‘illeagle’ graffiti,” July 15). It arrives from the pens of experts, from elected officials, from the pulpit and it has a seat at our dining room tables. Among the challenges we face as listeners is untangling the information we are receiving.

First, the matter of caring for these children has been combined with an important discussion on immigration policy. There are important ways in which these are two very separate topics. Believing they are one-and-the-same keeps us from responding to each in an appropriate time frame. Creating an immigration policy that works will require careful planning, consideration of a great many perspectives and time. The matter of children from across the border who are already here has an urgency to it that will not withstand that pace. They need us right now.

Second, we have all been taught a technical term — unaccompanied minors — that helps us forget that the people of whom we speak are children. Children who are seeking refuge from awful circumstances. They are hungry and tired and afraid. They need food without worry about where there next meal is coming from. They need sleep without fear that violence will interrupt their repose. They need safety and help finding their families so that they can begin to heal. Speaking of them only in a technical term protects us from having to admit the reality these children are facing and our moral obligation to respond.

We are fortunate in Maryland that the leadership at Catholic Charities is clear on both of these points (“Catholic Charities seeks to house immigrant children in Baltimore County,”July 17). They stand out among organizations across the country because of their courageous response to this crisis. Despite the threat of political ill will, hate crimes and protesters, they are living their value system by moving quickly to open their doors and their hearts to some of these children. I hope their actions will be a beacon to others who can also join the effort and exemplify the spirit on which our country was built. And to the 50 children who may come here, we can join Bill McCarthy and his colleagues by welcoming them to Baltimore.

Molly McGrath Tierney

The writer is the former director of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services.