13,200 brown children detained.
Wrenched from the arms of their mothers by the agents of ICE.
Infants are held tightly, cared for by other children
In dirty, neglectful, and dangerous conditions
That scar the southern border of the American Dream
The Flores settlement mandates that children must be held in safe and sanitary conditions,
“Moved out of Border Patrol custody without unnecessary delays”.
That is the word of the Law
Except children are taking care of children on the south side of Border Town.

The conditions the human lawyers found, they found to be inhuman
Flu and lice outbreaks left untreated,
Children filthy,
Sleeping on cold floors,
Guarding each other from the guards.
Most have been here for weeks.
Constantly switching blankets between covers and the floor
Everyone is crying, crying all the time
Only children are taking care of children on the south side of Border Town

Across El Rio Grande; across that lazy river…
A scared little girl standing on the safe American shore; jumps back into El Rio
To reach her father and cling to him as he swims back to retrieve his wife, her mother.
El Rio’s currents care not for or against  our human hearts
It just flows and it flows and it flows,
Until the little girl and her father are washed up, facedown on its shore.
Her arm still protecting him, curled around his neck.
While her mother’s screams and her tears echo and stream into the valley of El Rio Grande.
Dead children are taking care of their parents on the south side of Border Town.

The 2-year-old boy locked in detention wants to be held all of the time.
He’s wet his pants and has no diaper
He’s wearing a mucus-smeared shirt.
He does not speak.
A 10 year old girl speaks for him
Doing her best to soothe the clingy toddler, :
“A Border Patrol agent asked me”, she says
‘Who wants to take care of this little boy that nobody wants?’
“So I said Us”

To which I as say as well: All of Us!
After all, who or what  are you waiting for?
Do you need someone’s permission to stand up for what is right and say no?
What kind of people, do you imagine put babies in cages
Do they really think that Jesus will never know?
Because the truth is that right now, in this one moment’s breath,
There  are  children taking care of children on cold concrete floors.
While the Devil is counting  souls,
On the south side of Border Town.

“Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
~ The US Constitution