Another death of a Hispanic human being in detention is a shame this nation must finally end

In jails, people are dying under the custody of law enforcement officials.

The death toll is mounting. Victims include a Baptist minister and the latest being a 44-year-old woman.

Yet this terrible tale has not continued to emerge from China -- but in the United States of America. The human beings dying are not people armed to do violence against this nation or any citizen. They're simply people seeking a better life in America, which has a statue in New York Harbor asking for the world's huddled masses yearning to be free.

But we know there is no Statue of Liberty for immigrants on the southern border of the United States. Hispanic human beings have had to cross the border under the threat of violence from criminals and supposed law-abiding American citizens. Still, they come and oontribute much more than will be recognized by the news media or politicians.

The following story of another death was published last week. Go to http://www.state-journal.com/news/article/4303391 to read about the death of a 44-year-old woman in county custody in Shelbyville, Ky.

State police are investigating the death as a suicide. Her family believes otherwise and has hired an attorney to help investigate. The family includes a 92-year-old mother here and a brother who is a local restaurant owner.

The deportation of human beings under the 287g program continues to produce such incidents in the land of the free and the home of the brave. In Metro Nashville, we've seen a woman three days from delivering her fourth child arrested and tortured during and after delivering her son under law enforcement custody.

And then Mrs. Juana Villegas' (DeLaPaz) son was taken from her while he was still in need of milk from his mother to build his immune system. Mrs. Villegas was not allowed to express milk for him.

The heinous program 287g program -- enabled by the current Republican Bush administration but built by the Democratic Clinton administration -- must be ended. This nation's human rights atrocities have become difficult to differ from China, or Iran or Saudi Arabia.

Another death under detention in an American jail has become one too many, unless the United States decides to demolish its Statue of Liberty out of shame for betraying its promise to the world's masses longing to be free.