I Left My Wallet at Home and Felt Fear I’ve Never Known in America

By Dr. Andrea Ortega

This morning, I left my wallet at home.

I have lived in the United States most of my life, having migrated at 8 years old. I have the privilege of being a naturalized citizen. And never, not once, have I felt fear like the fear that sat in my stomach today because that morning, I left my wallet.

I was driving to the Farmworkers Association of Florida, an organization I have supported for years, led by Yesica, the General Coordinator, who oversees and advocates for more than 14,000 farmworker members across Florida. These are workers who feed this country. Who sustain entire supply chains. Who show up every day, often unseen, often unprotected.

And as I drove, I realized my ID was in the diaper bag I had taken out of the car earlier that morning to make room for my kids, since we had missed the bus.

That’s it. That’s all it took.

A missing wallet.

And suddenly my mind spiraled: What if there’s a surprise raid? What if I get caught up in it?

What if I’m one of the many U.S. citizens who have already been wrongfully detained or arrested because due process is no longer guaranteed?

I thought about what would happen if I were stopped. I know myself. I know my rights.

I would ask for a warrant. I would demand due process. I would insist on being treated as a human being, not a number on their quota. And that, I know, would probably get me in trouble.

And then came the most sobering thought of all:

The fear I felt today is not even a tenth of what immigrants in this country live with every single day.

“Legal” vs. “Illegal” Is a Moral Cop-Out

Americans right now are justifying immoral actions by hiding behind the words "legal " and "illegal."

But those words do not erase the fact that human beings, workers, parents, caregivers, children, and community leaders are being detained, deported, and disappeared from their lives without due process.

We cannot keep listening only to media soundbites.

We need to listen to the people on the ground.

Due Process Is Not Optional. It Is Foundational.

The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is unambiguous:

“No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

Not citizen. Person.

The Fourteenth Amendment reinforces this:

“Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Due process is not a privilege. It is not a reward. It is not conditional on birthplace, accent, or paperwork.

Due process is the baseline of what Makers America Great.

Church, State, and the Weaponization of Faith

I say this as someone who has stepped away from the church in recent years, but who was raised Catholic.

If your politics requires you to forget the humanity of others, then you have abandoned the core message you claim to defend.

Jesus did not ask for papers. He did not ask for status. He did not sort people by legality.

He centered the human first.

The Founders of our great nation, many of whom explicitly warned against the merging of religious authority and government power, understood this danger deeply.

Thomas Jefferson wrote of the Constitution’s intent to build:

“A wall of separation between Church & State.”

Because when the state claims divine justification, accountability disappears.

One of my favorite movies is National Treasure, yes, the Nicolas Cage movie, where the Declaration of Independence is read aloud says:

People don’t talk like that anymore. But that doesn’t make the words obsolete.

It makes our failure to live up to them undeniable.

Nationalism that demands silence, obedience, and fear is not patriotism. It is erosion.

And what we are eroding right now is not just policy but the soul of this country.

I Refuse to Look Away

You can keep turning a blind eye.

You can keep justifying.

You can keep saying “this doesn’t affect me.”

But it does.

It already has.

Because today, all it took was a missing wallet for me to feel something I never thought I would feel in the United States of America.

And that should terrify all of us.

Sources & References

• U.S. Constitution, Fifth Amendment

• U.S. Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment

• Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Danbury Baptist Association (1802)

• Declaration of Independence (1776)

• Farmworkers Association of Florida – grassroots reporting and member advocacy