From Executive Order 13841 of June 20th, 2018.
‘…any person, not a citizen or national of the United States who has not been admitted into, or is not authorized to enter or remain in, the United States, who entered this country with an alien child or alien children at or between designated ports of entry and who was detained; and
(ii) that person’s alien child or alien children.’
Students were asked to use the above quote as an epigraph and title for their poem crafted as a letter and inspired by Dwight Okita’s work, In Response To Executive Order 9066: All Americans of Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers.
Mr. Telles, 9th Grade
Period 1
Alien Family
Kendall T.
Dear Sirs:
I came to America when I was 6 months old. My Mother brought
me here to be safer after my dad was shot and killed. I remember
nothing. I don’t even speak the language. This is the only life I’ve
ever known.
I’m leaving the house I’ve lived in for the past 10 years.
All of my friends. I don’t know how I’m going to survive
there. I don’t understand anything don’t know anyone.
I am just as American as you and everyone else here.
Executive Order 13841
Rudden G.
Dear Mr. President:
When most people think of an alien
they think of icky, green beasts with four
eyes and a couple of tentacles. They do not
think of other people.
When most people think of aliens they
think of worlds so far away that they
can only be imagined. They do not think
of places they have vacationed to.
When most people think of aliens
they think of invasions and infiltrations.
They don’t think of people desperately seeking
a new home.
Be careful with your language
Mr. President, the wrong idea just might
come across.
Executive Order 13841
Maya S.
Dear Mr. President Trump:
I don’t feel the threat of being deported.
Not under your rule for sure.
But what you’re doing is wrong
We’re all human here.
Our national anthem even says
‘The Land of the Free’
And may I remind you
That it does NOT say
‘The land of the free for only Americans.”
We do not support you.
The government does not support you
When will you get it?
There are many problems at hand
And this is not one of them.
Mr. Telles, 9th Grade
Period 5
Executive Order 13841
Mia B.
Dear Mother,
I know you only want the best for me
and I also know that
this isn’t what you meant
I am called an alien
but I’m no green
bug-eyed thing
I look like everyone else
I speak English just as well as them
so why am I foreign?
Executive Order 13841
Isabella J.
Dear Alien Family,
I’m sorry.
Sorry that you are seen like outsiders from space.
Sorry that you are treated like you aren’t part of the same human race.
Sorry that they have taken one look and condemned you
As illegal.
An object can be illegal, an action can be illegal but people
human people, the same as the ones announcing this order
cannot and should not be ‘illegal.’
Children do not come with malicious intent
A child is most likely, if not always, 4, 999 times, not a terrorist
Not here to steal jobs, cause chaos or abuse laws.
A child wants a safe place to play, food, and to be loved
A child wants mommy, daddy, both mommies, both daddies both there.
A child does not want to worry about going to school one day
and finding out their parent has been shipped back ‘home’ to a
country where they could no longer belong
A child does not want to be illegal
And I’m truly, deeply sorry our country has forgotten what
it’s like to be a child
And that they treat you this way.
And I’m most especially sorry for the children who have parents who think
this way.
A Not So Proud Moment of Executive Order 13841
Aidan S.
Dear Family:
Booming, loud, strong letter
Repeated in a machine-like way
The letters of denial
they say they have empathy, they say hope exists
Where is it hiding is it behind the imaginary wall that surrounds America
The fields of corn and overcrowded cities
All waiting. The things we are forbidden access to
All due to Order 13841
‘Alien families’ as they call it
As if we’re here to abduct the precious citizens
We hope to come in peace and pay a visit soon
Hopefully not as an alien family.
