Veteran NC business attorney pens open letter to Sen. Tillis over child detention crisis

Press Millen is a veteran North Carolina business attorney and partner with the quintessential establishment law firm, Womble Bond Dickson. Today, however, like a huge and growing number of Americans, he has clearly grown disgusted at the spectacle unfolding in America’s immigration detention facilities, and was was kind enough to share a scathing open letter with Policy Watch that he has penned to Senator Thom Tillis on the subject.

Dear Senator Tillis,

My concerns about the Administration’s child-detention policy need to be expressed to you, but I’ve struggled with how best to say it.

I’m a life-long Democrat and 30-year North Carolina voter. I did not support you in 2014 and it’s virtually inconceivable that I will do so 2020. This is a communication that must be sent anyway.

What the Administration is doing with migrant children at the border is disgraceful.  The images, the sounds, the statistics, and even the frank descriptions from the more candid members of the Administration make that clear.  What we’ve all seen is not something that could make any American feel other than heart-sick about our government and the state to which we’ve sunk as a country.

I also recognize that you — as just a single senator — are limited in your influence.  You, however, do have choices in what you say and, more importantly, what you do. Congress, moreover, has an obvious constitutional role to play during this crisis.

The President, I understand, can be vindictive about anyone who crosses him, particularly from his own party.  How you square that with your duties under the Constitution and to North Carolina voters (even Democrats like me), as well as with your conscience, is for you to navigate in the first instance.

I suspect you know what’s right, although I suppose that years of politics can erode a person’s moral compass to the point where it simply doesn’t work any longer.

The choice, however, remains yours.  You will be judged, by me and others, by how you act.

As I mentioned at the outset, there is almost no chance I will support your reelection. Under our system of government, though, that doesn’t give you the right to ignore me. And there can still be consequences based on how you act.

It really comes down to the level and fervor of my non-support in 2020. If you are courageous, I will likely vote against you. If you are cowardly, however, I will do everything I can to support your opponent and see to it that North Carolina is not further embarrassed by being represented by a Senator with a broken moral compass.

I know it’s a hard choice, but, again, it’s your choice.

Yours,

Press Millen
Raleigh