As a mother and former political science professor, I cannot believe what I am witnessing concerning the president's decision to deprive undocumented immigrants of the due process rights.

People who have crossed the borders into the United States illegally, according to the man who sits in the most powerful position in this nation, must be immediately deported without a trial.

I was talking with one of my neighbors this afternoon, and he asked a very important question, "How was Trump ever elected president?"

I live in a building that is inhabited by individuals who are barely surviving on the lowest rung of the economic ladder, and when you speak with them, you are told by many that they voted for President Trump.

Hearing the president's words and his most recent decisions regarding people who have come here to find refuge from lives, which make my neighbor's lives look like paradise, seems unbelievable to me.

The president's reference to "illegal" immigrants as "invaders," and his position that the United States immigration laws are a mockery and must be changed, make me sick.

His words that we need people here who will make American great is a direct contradiction of this country's history.

If he took the time to look at my parent's generation, he might discover that this nation is the product of the contributions made by many who may well have entered our country illegally.

As I witness the issue of separating children from their parents in camps, I can only see that having chosen such a person to lead was one of the greatest mistakes we have made as a people.

One of our president's advisers, when told that a baby with Downs Syndrome was removed from her mother and placed in an internment camp, reacted by saying "whomp, whomp," thus mocking the sound the child would make. Someone standing next to him said that the words he had used would be the sound his soul would hear when he descended into hell.

People who are adamantly against the president's position have said that such decisions should be made by immigration judges.

There apparently are camps where whole families are being held all over the United States as well.

It is unbelievable to hear of such atrocities in a country that prides itself on holding open arms to all who want to come here.

I grew up in the New York area, and the Statue of Liberty was visited regularly by people who came there.

What we are seeing from my perspective is leadership that is too reminiscent of Nazi Germany. Those who were placed in concentration camps would undoubtedly remember such times. We have to be better then that!

If the Republicans who are running for Congress this year expect to keep their jobs, they should take the time to think about the situation.