“Compassion is the basis of morality.” - Arthur Schopenhauer-
"Alonso Guillen drove more than 100 miles south from his home in Lukfin, Texas, last week, determined to help those trapped by Hurricane Harvey flooding in the Houston area.
But he and another man disappeared after their boat capsized in a flood-swollen creek Wednesday, and relatives began searching for their bodies.
On Friday, searchers found the body of Tomas Carreon, 25, of Lufkin. On Sunday, relatives spotted Guillen’s body.
“He was floating in the water,” his brother Jesus Guillen, 36, a Lufkin truck driver, said in Spanish during a phone interview.
Luis Ortega, 22, of Lufkin, who survived the boat accident, told searchers the men had been swept away by a powerful current. Ortega barely escaped by grabbing a floating gas tank, then a tree.
Relatives said Guillen, a Mexican national, was a “Dreamer” enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which President Trump is said to be poised to scrap, though he may leave it intact for six months to give Congress time to find a legislative solution. (Ortega is a U.S. citizen, as was Carreon, Guillen’s brother said.)
Guillen moved to Lufkin at age 14 from just across the border in Piedras Negras, Mexico. He later graduated from Lufkin High School, attended St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, worked in construction and at a local club, Rodeo Disko, and radio station, SuperMix 101.9 FM.
He was known as “DJ Ocho,” who mixed country and hip-hop, followed Texans football and the Houston Astros, played softball and soccer, sported Cowboy hats and red, white and blue sunglasses.
He used the station to organize fundraisers for those in need. “It didn’t matter what situation it was,” said friend Linda Alvarez.
Guillen masterminded the rescue trip to the Houston area just like one of his radio station fundraisers: on the fly, with friends’ help. After the storm hit, they borrowed a boat and drove south to save strangers.
Like many in Texas, Guillen’s family has mixed immigration status and is divided by the border. His mother, a Mexican national, still lives in Piedras Negras, Mexico, with one of his brothers. His father is a legal resident, and his brother Jesus is a U.S. citizen.
Alonso Guillen applied for DACA, an Obama-era program that protected from deportation about 800,000 immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. He applied because so many of his family and friends were in the U.S., and that’s where he saw his future, his brother said." [Source]
Mr. Guillen was a hero. The narcissistic serial liar who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is not.
Imagine being kicked out of the only country that you have ever known, and then sent to a country where you don't even speak the language. Imagine, too, that you being here "illegally" is not even your fault.
If you are a dreamer, this is the position that you now find yourself in while living in Donald trump's America.
*Pic from chron.com
