Where to start? With your family and friends who live in Minneapolis? What they report from “on the ground” experiences, the vigils for Renee Good and Alex Pretti? Seeing ICE line up outside schools, waiting for dismissal, so parents arriving to pick up their children can be arrested? With the videos of ICE agents shooting to death Renee Good and Alex Pretti, even though watching the videos is deeply disturbing and not something you want to do?

Start with what you believe. I believe our nation is big enough for immigrants to live and work here. I believe legislators can make documentation for immigrants simple and meaningful, if they want to.

The Trump administration has said untrue things to the nation about Renee Good (that she tried to run over an ICE agent; not what the videos show) and Alex Pretti (that he was a domestic terrorist; no, he was documenting ICE with his smartphone). My 35-year-old daughter works two jobs in Minneapolis and knows firsthand from volunteering with a church that people in her community are fearful, exhausted, traumatized, and will persist in their vigilance against ICE’s intrusion.

ICE discovered the location of her church, which has put a hold on distribution of needed groceries to 600 families her church is helping, through volunteers like our daughter. They will persist.

What I want to know is how brave are we, Americans? When we hear the National Anthem at all the sporting events we watch or attend, and we hear about “the home of the brave,” how brave are we? I know immigrants in Minneapolis are brave. My daughter and all the volunteers are brave. Alex Pretti was brave and Renee Good was brave, driving through her neighborhood, checking on her immigrant neighbors. ICE killed a mother of three, Renee Good. I think about her and her children every day.

My son works for Ameriprise, which is located in Minneapolis. I understand Ameriprise and other businesses (Target, General Mills), the Minnesota Twins, the Vikings, the Timberwolves, have made a joint statement, asking for people to come together and work for non-violent solutions. We are waiting for the non-violent solutions.

I believe immigrants are people first. Simple and meaningful documentation for immigrants/migrants who want to work in the US should have been established when my kids were babies. We should ask ourselves why our legislators refuse to make immigrant documentation a workable solution. Do we really NOT have enough jobs to go around? Are there businesses that use immigrant labor that have no problem doing so? Do immigrants pay sales tax every time they purchase something? (Yes they do.) Do I have medical providers who immigrated? (Yes I do.)

Brave Americans can ask these questions and they can keep asking questions. Brave Americans can make time to get to know immigrants or migrants, people whose jobs have long gone unnoticed, or are taken for granted. Most fruits and vegetables in our Iowa grocery stores got there by truck, and were picked and packed by migrants or immigrants. Tip of the iceberg (lettuce).

I think we should say it out loud if we believe immigrants are people first.