Parenting & Family Quote by Jose Serrano

Serrano’s line is built to sound less like ideology and more like basic decency, a rhetorical move that matters in immigration debates where policy is often framed as either “rule of law” or “open borders.” By leading with “everything in our power,” he widens the moral perimeter: family separation isn’t a regrettable side effect, it’s a failure of will. The phrase quietly indicts colleagues who treat harsh outcomes as inevitable. If we can’t fix this, Serrano implies, it’s because we’ve chosen not to.

“Common sense” is the strategic hinge. It’s an appeal designed to outflank partisan labels, positioning humane reform as pragmatic rather than radical. In Washington-speak, “common sense” also functions as a shaming device: if you oppose flexibility, you’re not just strict; you’re unreasonable. That sets up the next move, where “inflexible law” becomes the villain, not immigrants themselves. He relocates blame from individual behavior to legislative design, suggesting that cruelty is being laundered through bureaucratic neutrality.

The emotional core is the child. Serrano doesn’t foreground economic arguments or national identity; he foregrounds a parent disappearing. “Lose a parent” is deliberately passive, as if the state is a force of nature - except Serrano’s earlier “we must” makes clear it’s man-made weather. Contextually, the quote fits decades of fights over deportation, mandatory detention, and enforcement-first politics, especially moments when family separation became visible and politically costly. Serrano’s intent is to make that cost impossible to ignore, and to redefine “flexibility” not as weakness, but as the minimum requirement of a civilized system.