This migrant mother's story is an American story

The callers also insisted that the only reason the parents wanted their son to be born in the United States was so they could collect "freebies" like welfare and free medical benefits.

That confused me. For the most part, the native-born value their U.S. citizenship, right? Why else would they work so hard to deny it to the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants?

But, as an American who is extremely grateful for his U.S. citizenship, I can say that it's not because I have a shot to win prizes as if America were a game show. It's because my citizenship makes me a member of a special club promising "liberty and justice for all."

Shouldn't we consider the possibility that migrants and refugees could be motivated by ideals that are just as high-minded? Does the fact we look down on these folks mean we always have to question their motives?

Lastly, several callers repeated the old trope advanced by cable-news hosts that babies born on U.S. soil somehow "anchor" their parents to the United States.

If so, that's one flimsy anchor. The slightest tug by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and it breaks. The parents of U.S.-born children get deported all the time. Sometimes, the kids go with their parents. Other times, they go into foster care.

Hernandez and her infant son spent several days in the hospital in San Diego, while immigration agents stood sentry and checked all the food and clothes brought to them by hospital officials. You would have thought they were guarding Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

After leaving the hospital, Hernandez was returned to detention. After she and her husband filed their asylum claim, they were released into the United States in the care of an American woman who volunteers to house refugees while they make their way through the court system.

Hernandez came north because she wanted what every mother wants -- better lives for her children and to keep them safe. For this, she was treated like Public Enemy No. 1.

"I felt like a criminal," she said.

Most Americans still like to think of their country as a safe haven for the desperate and the downtrodden. They just don't act in a way that lives up to the billing.

That's the real crime.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.