OK, so where does that leave us?
We only need to deport another 15 million – give or take a couple million – illegal immigrants before we reach isolationist nirvana.
Once you get past the pictures of crying moms and paddy wagons, though, you begin to realize that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid of Swift & Co. in Greeley exposes irrational arguments on both sides of the debate.
First, there is a notion – offered up by many pundits I typically see eye-to-eye with on immigration – that we should only enforce laws that are compassionate, expedient or those we agree with. You know, only after we’ve procured babysitters and assured everyone that holiday plans would go undisturbed.
Of course, no one agrees with every piece of legislation. Yet none of us, sadly enough, have the option of cherry picking which ones to follow.
And Christmastime is indeed a miserable time of year to deport moms and dads – as Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput has pointed out. But if December is National Anarchy Month, please let us know. Surely, many of you would love to hit a bar and light up a Cuban cigar with your rum eggnog, like a civilized human being.
Let’s not forget Easter, the Fourth of July, Cinco de Mayo. … Hey, I’m Jewish, you give me a day of the week, and I’ll produce a holiday. What I’ve learned from all those holy days is that diaspora can be a mess.
Swift’s undocumented workers rolled the dice when they snuck into this country. They got caught. Some of them dabbled in more illegal activity when they stole identification. It’s a crime with considerable repercussions for many legal citizens. Was it a pretext for the raid? I’m not sure why ICE needed any pretext.
And as sad as it might be, illegal immigrants – not the ICE agents, nor atrocious laws, nor Tom Tancredo nor the Swift & Co. mangers who hired them – shoulder the full responsibility of being separated from their children temporarily.
With all that said, separating parents from their kids seems to be about the only thing the ICE raid accomplished. Most of these workers will be back sooner than you can say “Feliz Navidad.”
The question is, are we ready for an additional 100,000 ICE sweeps? Because that’s what it would take to get the job done. Or at least the job so many isolationists are clamoring for.
Fortunately, I don’t believe most Americans have the stomach for it.
For good reason. There would be a massive economic and moral cost. Far more devastating than the supposed damage wreaked by illegal immigrants living in trailers and working 12 hours in a meat- processing plant up in Greeley.
It’s obvious that the nation’s immigration law is broken – arbitrary and unfair. We need immigration reform that is practical while also defending the country’s borders. A system that ensures we don’t destroy entire industries. One that gives illegal immigrants a road to citizenship.
Do illegal immigrants deserve a break for ignoring the law? No. But there is no other way to get a grasp on this situation.
Although it’s going to be hard to get anything meaningful done when the loudest two camps in the debate seem to be the two most extreme.
On one hand, we have the thousands who marched this summer. People who don’t seem to believe in borders. On the other, we have people who blame every conceivable problem on illegal immigrants.
Both agree on one thing, I’ve noticed: Getting The Man. They want to see business owners punished, cuffed for the failures of federal government.
Last week, KHOW radio host Peter Boyles complained that there were no (to paraphrase) “white Republicans” being carted away with the illegal immigrants in Greeley.
Now, if you’re into white Republicans in shackles and orange jumpsuits, head to Washington. But that still doesn’t give us a workable plan on immigration.
I suspect the majority of Coloradans are somewhere in the middle. They want the law followed, but they also want reform that’s fair and practical.
For now, they can only wait.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday and Thursday.
He can be reached at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
