One of the Microaid workers

was stopped by ICE agents yesterday. He was on his way to work in one of those cities in the USA where ICE agents have been sent in apparently quite large numbers.

K... is an American citizen. His parents are American citizens. His grandparents were American citizens. His great-grandparents were American citizens. His great-great grandparents migrated to America to escape persecution in Morocco too many years ago to even think about. 

K... was stopped because he apparently "looks foreign". I am not sure what that means. I have never seen a photograph of him. We have only corresponded by email. I know very little about him apart from the fact he speaks several useful languages like English, European and Latin-American Spanish and at least two Arabic dialects. He is one of those people I can call on for help if there is a translation issue. He has done some aid work himself - at his own expense. He's not in a relationship and I have the sense of a quiet, self-contained person who prefers his own company.

The only reason I know about the "stop" is because he was very late to work and late sending me a small piece of information. He arrived in an apparently dishevelled state having been assaulted and knocked to the ground. It took some time to produce the documentation which showed how far back his American citizenship went.

His boss at work sent me a message telling me what had happened. His colleagues are, rightly, furious. I am feeling angry and upset for him too. There is too much of this going on. Don't tell me, "Well at least he didn't get shot and killed." That is not the point. There should be no shootings and no killings and there should be no assaults. 

I know people who have risked their lives to help others. They don't make a song and dance about it. I suspect most of their colleagues have no idea what they have done. They do not want them to know. It is not why they go to help.  They don't need to be harassed and assaulted by anyone. ICE agents may have a job to do but that is not the way to do it - not at any time, not ever.