Last week, agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement took two teenage girls from an airport in Hawaii, handcuffed them, subjected them to a strip search, and threw them into a holding pen with violent criminals. A day later, the two young women were taken back to the airport and forced onto a flight to Japan without their passports. They were from Germany.
Neither violated any laws. Both held valid U.S. tourist visas. Their only crime was coming to the U.S. to backpack.
Tom Sanders
You may not have stepped on a trail in yearsâor everâbut millions of Americans consider hiking and backpacking among their most pleasurable activities. For some, it's a weekend activity, an opportunity to get away from the pressures of the work week and unwind in a setting removed from the digital chaos of modern life.
For others, backpacking is more of an obsession.
Last year, over two thousand people registered for a "through hike" of the Appalachian Trail. Around 1,200 of them finished the 2,190-mile walk from the wooded top of Springer Mountain in Georgia, across 14 states, to finish on the granite slopes of Mount Katahdin looming high above the pine forests in the heart of Maine. Others hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, the Arizona Trail, the Florida Trail, the Long Trail, or one of hundreds of trails that crisscross the nation.
America's system of trails offers unmatched variety and incomparable beauty. Like our glorious collection of National Parks, America's long trails are known around the world. Thousands come here to pit themselves against the challenger and experience the wonders of the AT, PCT, and others.
Those hikers who visit America come away with a deep appreciation, not just for the natural beauty they experience, but for the culture they find. They go back to their home nations full of stories, not about canyons and waterfalls, but about people. People who were friendly to them when they were strangers. People who were helpful to them when they were in trouble. They talk about the friendships they made among their fellow hikers, the gratitude the felt for "trail angels" who appeared in unlikely places with a warm meal or a cool drink, and the charm they found in the many small towns where the those who hike the trails are considered a vital part of the community.
It would not be possible to produce better ambassadors for America than those who come from abroad and experience hiking on America's trail system. They find an America that is wrapped not just in trees, but in real warmth. There are wonders on the trails that can not be reached by any other means than putting one foot in front of the other. One of them is the deep and lasting friendships that come from sharing a very long walk. Another is an appreciation for an America that goes beyond both the glitz and the fears that come from the media.
The two young women from Germany had intended to visit a trail in Hawaii before moving on for a longer hike in California. That never happened. Instead of stories about laughing with newfound friends, a slice of pie found in a small diner, or pitching a tent in the shadow of giant redwoods, they're going home with a story of being senselessly terrified and abused. The only green they encountered was in the prison jump suits they were forced to wear after their clothing was stripped away.
The detention of two young white women from Europe is in no way worse than the disappearance of Latino men to lifelong torture in El Salvador, or the snatching of a celebrated scholar from the streets of Somerville, Massachusetts, or the cruel detention of a U.S. citizen.
This is just another way that ICE has become an instrument of authoritarians whose goal is the destruction of America. And another reason why:
- Every ICE agent involved in these incidents should be a matter of public record
- ICE should be eliminated by act of Congress, with necessary duties reassigned to agencies that have not become drunk on a cocktail of violence and hate
And now ... this would be an excellent time for a hike.
Comments
We want Uncharted Blue to be a welcoming and progressive space.
Before commenting, make sure you've read our Community Guidelines.