There was some discussion on Twitter last week arguing that people ease up on Sarah B. Fabian, the government attorney who suggested that soap, toothbrushes, and, you know, beds, aren’t necessarily required to keep immigrant children in safe and sanitary conditions.

She’s just doing her job, they chided. We should be focused on the policies and those who put them in place, they scolded—as if functionaries “just following orders” isn’t exactly how these policies… function.

Fabian, after all the attention, made a decision to go online and change her Facebook picture to, “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”

As if she’s some kind of folk hero.

I think maybe we can afford to have some of our focus be on the functionaries. I think maybe we can’t afford not to.