It's difficult to keep up with the outrage of the day, or maybe hour, coming out of Washington. There is a danger of Americans getting bored by it all. And when somebody finds something to be outraged by--and it's a real outrage this time--Americans will yawn. The president's critics might have already cried Wolf! too many times by now.
The latest is . . . . Well, you tell us. A daily newspaper's opinion section can only do so much. For the latest, look on the front page.
But the latest outrage when it comes to the immigration debate might be the number of non-raids that didn't happen over the weekend.
The president has promised immigration raids before, only to have them evaporate into hot air. Over the weekend, President Trump hinted that new raids would begin by Sunday. Those didn't pan out either. Not yet, anyway.
But then again, it's possible that immigration agents have the green light and might be waiting for the president to hush up about their dangerous jobs so they can go to work. The raids were supposed to roll out over a number of days anyway, so agents could be in their vans this very morning, on the way to enforce the law.
And for all the bellyaching, that's what this is all about: enforcing the law. And for all the hysteria from certain legal precincts and special interest groups, most Americans would probably agree with their government, given the details.
Such as these:
There are between 10 million and 12 million illegal aliens in this country. Let's call them what they are.
Of those millions, about 1 million have what's called Final Removal Orders. That is, a judge in good standing has decided they must leave, for whatever reason. Sometimes it's for a criminal reason.
CBS News--not exactly a right-wing kook outfit--reports that the newest crackdown on illegal immigrants will target about 2,000 people.
That is, the feds are "targeting" 0.0166 percent of all the illegals in the United States. And these particular illegal immigrants have been singled out by immigration judges. Also, the papers report that these particular illegal immigrants have received notifications from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Funny, but only in the United States would an agency like ICE send written warnings to illegal immigrants about coming raids. Then be compared to the Nazis.
Most of the opposition to these raids have been along the lines of "what if?"
What if the targeted immigrants aren't home--given the president's tweets and ICE's notifications--but others are picked up in a sweep? What if ICE gathers up "collateral arrests" of those who haven't been given due process?
Then, we suppose they'll be given due process and a court date. Word around the campfire is that most of those targeted by ICE have already missed one court hearing. This can't keep going on in a land that prides itself on the rule of law. And Mark Morgan, former ICE director and now head of Customs and Border Protection, said as much last month:
"I don't want to send ICE agents to their workplace. I don't want to send ICE agents to their homes. I don't want to send ICE agents to try to track them down and apprehend them in their communities, in their towns. That's not what I prefer to do. But we have applied due process. And we've tried to work with them. We've tried and attempted to say, 'Hey, come turn yourself in.' But they have refused to do so. So we have no choice but to carry out our statutory mandated job."
That is, enforce the law. La ley es la ley.
(As for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and its claims that children are targets, the only place we've heard that is from the American Immigration Lawyers Association.)
Some of us can't abide ignoring laws, lest it become a habit. The concept of law is important in this country, and not just this country. Break one law, and which is next? Laws, all laws, deserve respect in a nation of them.
Targeting a few thousand illegals who've broken this country's laws--more than once, for they broke them first by coming here--isn't going to keep the lettuce from being picked. What it might do, however, is indicate to the world, and a few Latin American countries in particular, that the best way to immigrate to the Estados Unidos is to do so legally, like so many millions have and continue to do. And that skipping in line isn't fair. It's especially unfair to all those immigrants still standing in line, trying to enter this country the right way.
Yes, this nation can be--should be--choosy about who gets to come here and when. This nation has the same claims of security and economy as every other country. Why should America be the only nation in the world that doesn't have the right to enforce its immigration policies?
Answer: It shouldn't be. We'd bet most Americans would agree, if they were given the details. Instead of a lot of tweets by one side and hysteria by the other.
Editorial on 07/16/2019