The Trump deportations have begun. It is not yet clear how far he and Jeff Sessions will go, but the president has promised to deport anyone deemed a criminal and, to many of his supporters, anyone residing in this country without the proper documentation is, by definition, a criminalregardless of how long theyve been here or how hard theyve worked or how much theyve contributed or how many they will leave behind.We are a nation of laws. Not a nation of kindness or moral principles or logic, though we might like to believe that our laws are kind, moral, and logical.So those of us opposed to the mass deportations Trump has promisedand his followers have urgeddo not have a legal argument with which to challenge them. At least none that Im aware of, though Im not a lawyer.There are strong moral arguments for letting a lot of these people stayespecially those who have committed no crimes (no serious ones) and who violated our immigration laws for the sake of their children and worked hard and sacrificed and whose children have done the same. Many such children have come through my classroom and I am heartbroken to imagine any of them or their parents being expelled from my country. I am ashamed of the heartlessness such action would express. There is also a moral argument for giving special consideration to people whose cheap labor has benefited my states economy (and that of other states) for many years. Theres a moral argument for helping those whove been driven from their country by poverty and violence they had no part in causingit is an argument that ought to move those who call themselves Christians.Politics and policies born of resentment cannot be good for the soul of our country. Trump and his supporters have their own moral arguments. They say we must put America and Americans first. Of course these phrases express geographic ignorance, since many of the people they wish to expel are, in fact, Americans (the U.S. being but one country in America). But we know what they mean. Why should citizens of the United States be sympathetic to people from other places when so many of our own people are struggling so mightily' One can argue that undocumented individuals are not actually taking away jobs or other resources from those born here, but its a tough sell to someone whose financial fortunes have collapsed in the last five or ten or twenty years. The students in my classroom who were brought here or born to parents who came here will almost uniformly go further than those parents and enjoy prosperity far beyond that of those parents. It is not surprising that they are resented by those Americans (of the U.S. variety) whose prospects are far less than those of their parents and grandparents.But politics and policies born of resentment cannot be good for the soul of our country. Nor can any lawANY LAW ANYWHEREthat, for any reason, hurts children. If you are knowingly hurting children, there is something wrong with you, whether or not you have the law on your side. Every year the school at which I teach enrolls students in my classes and whoever those children are I teach the hell out of their class for themand so do most of my colleagues.When you work with kids you dont decide who deserves to be taught and encouraged. Where they come from and how they got here just doesnt matter. I once taught the grand-daughter of a Nazi whod escaped to El Salvador after World War II. The girl owed me no apology or explanation. Just her best effort and her homework on timemost of the time.So I am not sympathetic to those who wish to punish the children of those who snuck into our countryor those who came on false pretenses.I wish that Jeff Sessions and his ICE men and women would restrict their deportations to serious criminalsthose no country wants. Why are federal agents wasting time and resources on people whove committed minor crimes' Are such actions any better than a municipality shutting down a lemonade stand because of a city ordinance' Heres an idea: if the crime of an undocumented immigrant does not exceed the crime of Jeff Sessions himself (perjury, that is) then let them stay. And if the harm of the deportation exceeds the harm of the deportees crime then lets have a little collective heart.We are a nation of laws but if those laws are being used to harm people for political expedience by indulging bigotry and ethnic paranoia, then those laws do not deserve out respect and the politicians exploiting them do not deserve our support.Those who deported Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the 1930s were within the lawbut on the wrong side of history.Those who interned Japanese Americans in the 1940s were within the lawbut on the wrong side of history.Those who forced Native American children into border schools to assimilate them were within the lawbut on the wrong side of history.Trump and Sessions are within the lawat least they are on immigration enforcementbut their cruelty is dragging us all onto the wrong side of history. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. 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