Today I called my congressman on behalf of Kilmer Abrego Garcia and on behalf of our Constitution and our right to due process. As I spoke, my voice cracked unexpectedly and my eyes filled. Later in the day, it happened again. Why? It’s a beautiful April day, fragrant with apple blossoms. Then I remembered, my father died 13 years ago this month. My father fled Franco’s dictatorship in Spain, but he never gave up hope for a democracy in his homeland. In 1978, two years after Franco’s death, his dream was realized. He never became a U.S. citizen, renewed his green card every decade, and voted in Spanish elections until the end of his life. Now, the nation that once sheltered him from a repressive fascist regime has itself become a regime where dissidents can disappear at the hands of masked goons without due process. Our U.S. Constitution guarantees due process to all people, regardless of citizenship.
I mourn my father. I mourn even more the nation that sheltered and inspired him, allowed him to work, raise a family, and visit his homeland each year. He was loyal to Spain, patiently waiting for democracy to rise. But he thought that the U.S. was a better home for us, his children. He never encouraged us to seek Spanish citizenship, for which we are eligible. We never pursued it — we agreed with his choice. Only now, as I witness the poisoning of our principles, do I consider the possibility of leaving and becoming a Spanish citizen like my father. In case things get really bad. And for my own children, so they, too, have the choice to live in a true democracy.
The Spain of my father’s youth was a place where people disappeared. Where the state imprisoned and executed dissenters without due process. The graves of the disappeared are still being discovered. Franco’s Spain held no place for those of different faiths and political beliefs. It was unsafe for a progressive thinker like my father, and also economically unviable; he was blacklisted from professional employment. Fortunately, he was able to emigrate, and the U.S. welcomed him.
I miss my father terribly, especially on a fresh spring day like today. Like me, he liked to walk the backroads and climb mountains. He wrote poetry, loved to dance, and encouraged his students to follow their passions while also gaining marketable skills. His heroes were Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez. I am glad he is not here today to witness the dissolution of our institutions. What are we doing, America, as we stand by slack-jawed with horror? In a hundred years will our great-grand-children be digging up our mass graves?
Due process is the heart of our constitution. If habeas corpus is not enforced, if we are not innocent until proven guilty, if we cannot rely on the rule of law and respect for judicial rulings, our freedom is worthless. We have none. Any of us can disappear, or be shipped to an offshore prison. What will we do, America? An administration that disregards due process does not value or uphold your essential rights and freedoms.
If you value your freedom, it’s time to tell our elected leaders. Presidents come and go, but our rights under the Constitution must endure. It’s up to us to ensure they do. If your freedom is non-negotiable, demand that Congress and the judicial branch uphold our constitutional right to due process. Otherwise, don’t expect to receive a hearing or be able to call a lawyer when the masked goons come for you.
Maria Fernandez-Gimenez is a senior research scholar and retired professor of rangeland ecology and management at Colorado State University. She works with and writes about ranchers and livestock herders in Colorado, Spain and Mongolia and has lived in Fort Collins since 2003.
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