How we see people or not

From Henri Nouwen's book, The Return of the Prodigal Son:  "When no one wanted to give him the food he was giving to the pigs the younger son realized that he wasn't even considered a fellow human being."

As I read this morning, I was thinking about the policy of separating immigrant children from their families. I don't know how it can be justified.  It can't be, unless we stop seeing the people crossing our boarder as human beings.  

Do we do that? And do we do it on the street, as homeless people pass by? Do we do it in church, when someone disagrees with us? Do we turn human beings into obstacles? Into objects?

Is this what Christ calls us to do?