Is This Our America?<\/p>\n
As the Senate begins its debate on immigration and DACA there is a dark underside to America\u2019s actions against illegal immigrants. There is a basic question on the table: \u00a0what is America, and how should we see those who have come here from other countries?<\/p>\n
No one would argue against removing those who have come to the United States illegally to commit crimes. Drug dealers and gang members obviously have no place here; we\u2019ve got enough troubles with home grown ones. But the Trump Administration and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) have now taken the view that EVERY illegal immigrant is a criminal. They argue that the fact that since they have not followed the immigration laws they have committed a crime, and therefore should be thrown out.<\/p>\n
There IS a basic logic to this, and when General Kelly was the Secretary of Homeland Security he made the point that if we want to change the law, we have a Congress that is capable of doing it. His view was until the law was changed, it was the Administration\u2019s job to blindly enforce it \u00a0The problem with that simple logic is that it is NOT a simple problem. Most immigrants, legal and illegal, come to the United States for opportunity, to improve their lives. Most work hard, live hard, and do the best they can to support their families, both here in the United States and those they left behind. We have developed an economy that DEPENDS on the work of those immigrants, including those here illegally, and we are not prepared to deal with the economic consequences of removing them.<\/p>\n
So what the Trump administration has done is set quotas on how many \u201cillegals\u201d ICE must remove. If they can\u2019t find enough MS-13 gang members, then they must reach it some other way. This number proves to \u201cthe base\u201d that they are getting \u201crid\u201d of undesirables, with all of the dark racial undertones that implies; but the result is capricious: the long established view that United States\u2019 law should be enforced in an evenhanded manner with due process is lost.<\/p>\n
Instead we have a \u201csecret police,\u201d snatching otherwise law abiding folks and hustling them out of the country before anyone has a chance to react. They deny due process by claiming that the status of illegal immigrant absolves authorities of guaranteeing protection. A university professor, currently on a legal work visa, was taken from his home in Lawrence, Kansas and thrust on a plane to Bangladesh, a country he left thirty years ago. The charge: he had twice overstayed visas during his thirty years in Kansas. His wife and children, US citizens, were threatened with arrest if they tried to hug him goodbye. He was not a member of MS-13. He was not a potential terrorist. He was a taxpayer, benefiting his community, and legally registered.<\/p>\n
A man in Tukwila, Washington saw a trespasser in his yard, after a series of car break-ins. He called the police, who were unable to arrest the suspect without probable cause. But they did arrest the caller, who they found had an administrative (not court approved) warrant filed by ICE for his detention. He is a carpenter, who fled brutal gang violence in Honduras. The Tukwila police now say they should not have executed such an administrative warrant, but in the meantime the caller is in ICE custody.<\/p>\n
Is this our America? In a country that was created by immigrants, is this how we want it to be? In a nation that uses over eleven million illegally entered immigrants for all kinds of labor, do we want to drive them into the shadows; unable to call the police, unable to pay taxes? Is this what we are about?<\/p>\n
General Kelly is right about one thing. Congress needs to step up and deal with the issue. But in the meantime, the United States should not be a nation where there is the shadow of a police state, where you need to have \u201cyour papers\u201d ready to prove your citizenship at any moment. The term \u201cWOP\u201d was a pejorative of the early twentieth century for Italian immigrants, it originated from an abbreviation of Without Papers. Are we to equal the prejudice and racism of the 1920\u2019s? Is that our America?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"