I often look back on my early days as a country and western disc jockey in Green River Wyoming with mixed emotions. As a kid who had lived his entire life in Cleveland and Omaha, I felt like a fish out of water in that rustic cowboy environment. To be honest I hated living there, but I loved my time on the radio and the friends I worked with who became my family.

One of those friends who became family was another struggling broadcaster named Marcos Ortiz. Marcos and I were roommates for a while. As you can probably tell from the name, Marcos was of Mexican descent.

Marcos was a lifelong resident of the Cowboy State, born in a small northern Wyoming town. He was a first generation American steeped in the traditions of his Hispanic heritage. Whenever he went back to visit his mother, he always returned with a stockpile of homemade tortillas and enchiladas. I never met his mother, but I know Marcos loved her a lot and I sure loved her cooking.

I have no idea if Marcos’ parents came into this country legally. It never came up for discussion. In the mid 70’s illegal immigration wasn’t a political wedge issue. Back then America still believed in the promise of the Statue of Liberty.

Marcos was the epitome of the American dream. The son of hard-working immigrants who came to this country for a better life. Not only for them, but their children as well.

And Marcos had a good life. He wound up moving to Salt Lake City where he spent a couple decades as a television news investigative reporter. He married a wonderful Anglo woman and raised a daughter who is now a Chicago lawyer.

Marcos passed away a few years ago, but I think of him often. It hurts my heart when I see masked ICE agents rounding up day laborers at Home Depot. When I hear stories of families torn apart when Mom or Dad gets arrested at their job sites. The only probable cause for their detainment is their skin color or their language.

I think of Marcos’ parents and what their life would have been like if they were alive today. Would they have been detained and sent back to Mexico? Would the government have blocked them from sending their son to college? Would they be living in fear not knowing if when they left their home, they’d be able to come back?

I wonder if instead of making homemade tortillas for this gringo, would Marcos’ mom be occupying a jail cell in McCook? Would her granddaughter miss out on the education she needed to be a lawyer?

I’ll bet Donald Trump, Stephen Miller and those ICE agents never knew a great man like Marcos. If they did, would they be acting the same way? If they tasted those enchiladas, would they be so willing to force people like Mrs. Ortiz out of the country?

Governor Pillen says he cares about children. I wonder if he ever knew someone like Marcos or his daughter. When he sees the inmates at McCook does he think about their offspring and how they might contribute to making life better in America?

Many of the same people who want to punish immigrants for breaking the law are the same folks who are trying to protect wealthy child predators by blocking the release of the Epstein files.

Many of the same people who want to deregulate coal, the banks, the stock market, and other businesses get their panties in a wad because some poor human didn’t fill out the proper paperwork to live and work in this country.

I didn’t like living in Wyoming, but if I never moved to Green River, I never would have met Marcos.

For that matter I never would have met so many Wyoming cowboys who enjoyed the rodeo and country music. Men and women who spent their summers fishing and their fall hunting moose, elk, and antelope.

I didn’t have a lot in common with those good old boys, but I liked them. They were good people. I never saw them treat Marcos with anything but kindness and respect.

But times were different then. I wonder if he would be treated the same way today. Have those good old boys become radicalized by MAGA? Would they treat Marcos differently?

Marcos Ortiz was a good man who came from a good family. I miss him and think of him often. But there’s a part of me that’s glad he doesn’t have to see what is happening in America today.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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