In the annals of American history, our nation’s highest moments have often arrived in defiance of prevailing sentiment, and two of them have been achieved in the form of courageous and clandestine whispers very near where we now live.

In 1849, Harriet Tubman was informed of the inevitable fate that awaited African Americans during that time: She would soon be sold as a slave, to toil under the hot sun in obscurity for the remainder of her life – an invisible human being with breath, a pulse, and with legs and arms strong enough for working on plantations.

Hiding throughout the day, she made it through Maryland, Delaware on roadways and waterways mostly in the dead of night, navigating her way through a myriad of landscapes and weather, and eventually, she arrived in Pennsylvania, where she found freedom as a self-emancipated woman. 

Risking her life and the lives of others, Tubman found her way back to Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and over the course of a decade and 13 separate journeys, Tubman led more than 70 people to freedom who had once been most assuredly destined for slavery and provided instructions to another 50 in helping them to find freedom – many right through the heart of Kennett Square in what became a center point in the Underground Railroad movement.

To Dr. Bartholomew Fussell, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 – a decree that required that all escaped slaves upon capture be returned to the enslaver and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate – held very little meaning to his Quaker beliefs. Working with local abolitionists, he sheltered runaway slaves in the root cellar of his Fussell House home in Kennett Square – the catacombs are still there – and provided medical services to the sick and the injured.

In the great document of Chester County, Dr. Fussell’s actions against the code of law to protect innocent citizens have earned him a place in its history.

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On Jan. 20, Donald J. Trump took an oath to become the 47th President of the United States, and before the last song at the last inaugural ball was performed, his campaign promise to initiate mass deportations of undocumented citizens in the United States was underway. Tom Homan, Trump’s new “border czar,” said that the deportation would first go after criminals and national security threats, but that he would not rule out deporting entire families. In a recent interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump reiterated Hogan’s words, saying that he would be open to deporting all undocumented immigrants in the country over the course of his four-year term, and that he would consider using “military assets” to do so.

“On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out,” he said during a rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden just before the 20204 Presidential election. “I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail, then kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.”

There are an estimated 11 million undocumented citizens living in the U.S. without legal immigration status, and about 155,000 live in Pennsylvania. Of that number, an estimated 30,000 work in the state’s agricultural industry, which includes mushroom farms and composting sites throughout Chester County. According to statistics by The American Immigration Council, this population makes up nearly ten percent of the state’s entire workforce.

While the H-2A program will permit U.S. employers to bring foreign citizens to the U.S. to temporarily fill the agricultural jobs expected to be lost because of deportation efforts, many in the industry fear that it will not be enough to make up for the loss of undocumented workers in the wake of an aggressive deportation campaign. Further, many experts are forecasting what could become a huge disruption in food production and jacked-up pricing, all leading to a vast economic destabilization of the entire agricultural industry and a significant punch in the gut to local mushroom farmers. 

It is only fair – and accurate – to declare that this act of mass deportation will impose not just an economic hardship on southern Chester County but an emotional one as well. While these proposed efforts are rightly expected to deport the less desirable element of this wave of illegal immigration, this administration’s “scorched earth” philosophy of anyone and everyone is wrongly targeting the decent individuals and families who aspire to a better life. Bloodthirsty criminals? It is hard to equate the term to those who seek assimilation and legal status; who attend adult literacy programs; who toil long and without argument in our mushroom-producing facilities and contribute to a multi-billion-dollar industry; who proudly express their heritage in what has become part of the county’s rich tapestry; and who are the foundations by which their “dreamer” children – those born and raised in the U.S. – pursue college and careers.

As of now, we do not know who among us will attach themselves to the winged legacies of Harriet Tubman and Dr. Bartholomew Fussell in their efforts to protect this population, but we encourage them – schools, non-profit organizations, houses of worship, municipalities and private citizens -- to pursue every legal manner of recourse to prevent these families – these cultures -- from being ripped apart. 

Time and time again in the course of our nation’s most ferocious conflicts, the act of civil disobedience – the stratagem of human decency -- has proven to be the finest residue of our most honorable intentions. That time is again upon us.