They’d been handed a name and ordered to fetch. Failing to perform any additional research before arriving, the two ICE agents were shocked to discover their target was wheelchair-bound, stricken with cerebral palsy, unable to walk or speak. Their mission, a simple identification and extraction from a Clark High School classroom, turned dramatically complex when the duo realized their vehicle was handicapped-inaccessible. Making matters infinitely more tense, hundreds of Clark students, hearing what was happening, spilled into the hallways, live-streaming the commotion, eager to physically intervene. Facing a potential riot and public relations nightmare, the agents beat a sheepish retreat as the crowd roared.
Before the day was out, a previously uncelebrated member of Clark’s distinguished journalism class stepped into the spotlight. In addition to having a soft spot for his targeted classmate, Roy Lopez knew his own parents were undocumented, so what he'd witnessed lit a fire. Entire paragraphs excoriating the bumbling agents began falling out of him before his fingers ever hit the keyboard, resulting in an award-winning editorial on immigration and “Americanism.” Overnight, the online edition was picked up by regional media outlets. By the following afternoon his scathing op-ed had gone viral. Within a month, he'd received scholarship offers from six journalism colleges. Suddenly, Roy's limited prospects had opened wide. He'd never seen his reserved father so proud.
“Nice article, son.’
***
Now, two weeks before graduation, Roy sits nervously with his little brother in the hospital's waiting room, their parents preparing to welcome a new baby. His relentless, pleading objections regarding their mother's complication-riddled pregnancy have all fallen on deaf ears, swept forcefully aside by the state’s new edict forbidding all termination six weeks after conception.
eIn this instance, with every fiber of his soul, Roy thoroughly resents being right.
A grim-faced doctor collects the boys to bid numb farewells to their mother and meet their newborn sister.
Hours later, the devastated Lopezes depart the maternity wing. The doors slide open. There, in the waiting room, stand the two ICE agents Roy had publicly humiliated. One jauntily twirls a shiny pair of handcuffs.
"Nice article, son." | RF
A LIFE-LONG OREGONIAN OF IRISH AMERICAN STOCK, RICKY FAY HAS HEARD AND SEEN OTHERS CLAIM TO WEAR THEIR HEARTS ON THEIR SLEEVES. THE ONLY PLACE HE HAS EVER TRULY FELT UNDERSTOOD IS ON THE PAGE OR SCREEN.
About the image from the National Gallery of Art: Castle Garden in New York City was the country’s first immigration station and processed a large refugee population in the late 19th century. Here, people from different countries talk, rest, and pass the time waiting for inspection and registration. Four figures draw our attention. In the center, a mother nurses her baby — a trunk label suggests they may be from Sweden. A red-haired girl sits just behind them, and a uniformed man smokes a pipe to the right. Critics of the time noted the irony of the painting’s title given the uncertain futures of many immigrants. In 1882, the federal government had passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first law limiting the number and nationality of people allowed into this country.
Man, you nailed it.