By Layla Razavi, Regional Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU

At first glance, the kids I met at the Ft. Sill military base in Lawton, Oklahoma, seemed like ordinary teenagers. They wore friendship bracelets they'd made in arts and crafts. Boys had baseball caps and girls had brightly colored nail polish with tiny flowers painted on them. But, one by one, they started to share their stories, and it became clear that their lives are anything but ordinary.

This past weekend's Fourth of July holiday made me nostalgic for the Independence Day celebrations of my childhood.