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These days, besides seeing American bombers attacking Iran, we’re confronted with almost daily news about immigration raids and with court rulings about what ICE can, and cannot, do.
We’ve been treated to the arrest of a man whose three sons are U.S. Marines, and of sobbing mothers, wondering who will take care of their kids.
One recent ruling allowed the U.S. to deport undocumented people to “third countries,” meaning that someone who came from Guatemala might be deported to South Sudan, a continent away from their home of origin.
Many people will disagree with me, but my opinion is this – the vast, vast majority of immigrants coming to our country just want to work and want to escape poverty, violence and gangs in their former homes.
We have plenty of jobs available here – the kind of hard jobs that not everyone wants to do, such as meatpacking, construction and roofing – so it just makes common sense to come up with a way to let these people work.
But in our sharply divided country, we haven’t been able to do that. So what happens? These newcomers obtain a false ID so they can go to work, feed families and pay the rent.
Are these people criminals? You could make that argument since many entered the country without authorization, but that is a civil violation, punishable by a fine or deportation, not technically a crime.
The recent raid on an Omaha meatpacking operation, Glenn Valley Foods, got a lot of attention (a national news crew was embedded with ICE agents to make sure) and spread fear of more raids among immigrant communities across the state.
But when the Omaha World-Herald looked into the criminal backgrounds of 76 people arrested in Omaha, there wasn’t much to report.
Of that group, fewer than 20 had been charged with any crime in Nebraska, the paper reported. And those who had been charged faced minor crimes, like failure to provide proof of car insurance or not wearing a motorcycle helmet (a requirement since revoked in the state).
This isn’t exactly getting rid of the “worst of the worst,” a phrase used by President Trump often to describe the top goal of his promised wave of ICE raids.
A member of the Douglas County Board, Roger Garcia, said his wife’s aunt was among those detained in the Omaha raid. She had lived in the community for years, raised a family and paid her taxes, he said.
People, Garcia said, often say such immigrants ought to “get in line” and apply for citizenship. But his response to Nebraska Public Media was “there often is no line.”
It makes you wonder, is slapping handcuffs on granny and hauling her off to jail making our country safer? Give me a break. Right now, ICE is trying to meet a presidentially imposed quota of making 3,000 immigration-related arrests a day. The quota has led to criticism that many people who aren’t the “worst of the worst” are being detained to meet the 3,000 figure.
(I don’t know about you, but when I get pulled over by a cop for speeding, I want to be treated fairly – if I deserve a ticket, so be it, but I don’t want to be cited just because there might be some “quota” for an officer to meet.)
I’m with most people in saying if you’re a murderer, a gang member or a violent offender – the actual “worst of the worst” – you should be held accountable and should be deported, if a court determines that is appropriate.
But if you only want to work, live in a safe country and are a law-abiding citizen, we should find a way to allow that.
Most of our immigration laws date back 40 years, but Congress has been unable to update them. Now would be a good time to finally do that.
Paul Hammel has covered state government for decades. Prior to his retirement, he was senior contributor with the Nebraska Examiner.
