Prince William County Supervisor Kenny Boddye: “Before they became headlines, they were fathers. They were workers. They were human beings.”

See below for an excellent column by Prince William County Supervisor Kenny Boddye on the deaths, at the hands of out-of-control ICE officers, of two law-abiding, hard-working family men – good people, by all accounts, who had done absolutely NOTHING to merit being shot to death by anyone, let alone federal officers whose salaries are paid by OUR TAX DOLLARS! And yes, the murderers of these two 100% innocent men absolutely should be under arrest, facing murder charges. Oh, and those up the chain of the command – all the way up to Markwayne Mullin and Donald Trump – should also be facing consequences for all this insanity. If not now, then as soon as Democrats are back in power.  And no, Democrats had better not make the mistake of failing to seek accountability for the myriad of crimes committed by the Trump regime, and only “looking ahead” or whatever. Because, in the end, if there’s no justice, our entire system will break down or even collapse completely. And obviously, that should NOT be acceptable to any American who believes in our country’s highest professed ideals…

Before they became headlines, they were fathers. They were workers. They were human beings.

Joan [or Johan] Sebastián Durán Guerrero left behind a three-year-old daughter. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo spent years building homes and providing for his family. They came to this country, like generations before them, seeking the opportunity to work, support the people they loved, and build a better life.

Now they are gone.

Their families will forever carry the weight of an empty seat at the table, birthdays that will never be celebrated together, and children who must grow up without their fathers.

There is a temptation to view tragedies like these as isolated incidents. I don’t.

When people are repeatedly described as invaders instead of neighbors, criminals instead of human beings, or threats simply because of where they were born, it becomes easier for cruelty to take root. History teaches us that dehumanization rarely ends with words. It creates an environment where violence becomes easier to justify and where empathy becomes harder to find.

America has wrestled with nativism, racism, and white supremacist ideology since before its founding. Those forces have never disappeared; they have simply taken different forms across generations. When political leaders amplify fear and division instead of our shared humanity, they breathe new life into some of the darkest currents in our history.

That should concern every one of us.

We are supposed to be a nation that believes in the dignity of every person, the rule of law, and the promise that hard work can build a better future. Those ideals lose their meaning when people who leave home simply trying to earn a living never make it back to their families.

Regardless of where you stand on immigration policy, we should never lose sight of the humanity of the people affected by it.

A nation that forces a three-year-old little girl to grow up without her father is not a just one.

A nation that asks a child to witness the aftermath of her father’s death is not living up to its highest ideals.

We cannot become so accustomed to this level of suffering that we stop seeing the people behind the headlines.

We cannot be silent