A common rhetorical dodge used by people who want crackdowns on immigration is that they're only opposed to "illegal" immigration. I have to wonder if these people have ever received a speeding ticket because that is roughly the same level of crime we're talking about. We're all criminals in one form or another. I have yet to meet someone who has never driven their car too fast, drank underage, used illegal drugs, downloaded music or movies illegally, or stolen office supplies. The entire American southwest was stolen from Mexico in the Mexican-American War to expand slavery; a practice which is now illegal. You could say that collectively, all of us who descended from immigrants posses stolen property. Legality has nothing to do with justice or morality, it merely expresses power. It's hard for me to get worked up about people who cross some arbitrary line in the sand or overstay their visa usually for the purposes of working.
With Trump's latest executive action, any undocumented immigrant suspected of any crime or deemed by any law enforcement officer as a threat to public safety will be subject to deportation. Furthermore, I've always been unclear about what counts as probable cause for arrest for an immigration violation. Is being brown and speaking with an accent probable cause? If you don't have ID on you, are you subject to detention? On the books already, is the constitutionally dubious ability of customs to set up checkpoints 100 miles from the border. The new and existing practices of ICE, along with the rushed hiring of more ICE officers, and lack of immigration judges, leaves a system that is ripe for abuse and is a nearly vertical slope toward authoritarianism.
The immigration policies of the Trump Administration will cause fear among our immigrant community, documented and undocumented alike. Immigrants will be reluctant to report serious crimes due to fear of being deported, racists will feel emboldened, employers will continue to exploit their workers, and ICE will be so overwhelmed with cases that truly dangerous criminals will inevitably slip through the cracks. Deporting millions of immigrants will do nothing to make us safer or to improve working conditions; it will do the opposite.
I sincerely doubt any ICE officers are reading this, but if there are, then you need to quit. What you're doing is immoral and runs contrary to the idea that is America. If what you wanted when you took a job in law enforcement was to be a hero, then do something heroic and resign.
