When Legal and Illegal Bear the Same Meaning - We All Loose!

There is a lot of misinformation swirling around the immigration debate these days. Most of it is focused on people who have come here without documents – a civil offense - the legal equivalent of a traffic ticket. Even the media has jumped on the bandwagon. It is a handy misdirection from the fact that our federal immigration enforcement is out of control and is detaining, abusing and then deporting thousands of immigrants who are here legally. It is a handy misdirection from the fact that most of those detained, abused and deported are connected to tens of thousands of citizens as well. It is a handy misdirection from the fact that we are committing human rights atrocities on a massive scale in our detention centers and it is a handy misdirection from the fact that our federal government is condoning and even encouraging the commission of felony crimes against defenseless men, women and children within our own country for the sake of enforcing a civil code.

Today let’s look at how 19,000 of the 33,000 prison beds filled by immigrant detainees can be used for people who are here legally and who are not guilty of any crime: If an immigrant is here legally, they are still subject to being picked up by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) if they have any run in with the law. Examples that have happened here that I am personally familiar with include an African Methodist Minister who was the victim of identity theft. The thief used that identity criminally and the minister was picked up by the police. The police saw quickly that he was the victim, but ICE had already been called. ICE placed him in detention and began deportation proceedings against him.

This man spent many months doing hard time for no crime while going through the long, arduous immigration hearings. It took five more months and the help of a lawyer to get him out of prison after the judge ordered him released. ICE does not give up easily, so much so that even the son of a Vietnam War veteran who was born in this country wound up going through the same ordeal. When his family presented his birth certificate they were told by ICE that a birth certificate is not proof of citizenship. Living in the USA legally, being a citizen, even being born here or being a veteran of foreign war is no protection. It will not deter ICE in their determination to enforce that civil code at any cost. The do not care what laws they break or what rights they violate in the process.

Another case is the young man I did the piece for on Youtube that can be found on my web site: www.OBFThePeople.org. He came here as a refugee with his family at the age of 2 and grew up, went to school, got a job, paid taxes - all legally. He was picked up while celebrating a Celtics victory - the police were looking for a Middle Eastern man. His clothes didn't match the description they had, but he did look Middle Eastern. They detained him up and beat him severely while calling him by the name of one of the terrorists from 9/11 (if you doubt that beating read, “The Fence” by Dick Lehr about the vicious beating of a black undercover cop by Boston cops and the subsequent cover up – Boston is notorious). Then ICE came and took the young man away. The police never prosecuted him for anything, he wasn't the one they were looking for, but a person doesn't have to be prosecuted - all it takes is a charge. A girlfriend or wife making a charge of domestic abuse, even if it is totally unfounded, will get someone deported, but first they will spend months or even years in prison under immigration detention. That is how a citizen spouse can easily get rid of an inconvenient immigrant partner if they find someone new and want the immigrant gone.

Once ICE has someone they are not allowed to defend themselves against any minor criminal charges, so the charges are usually dropped. The person never has their day in court. The fact that they were picked up at all is enough for ICE to begin deportation proceedings. All non-citizens in this country are guilty until proven innocent and they are not allowed an opportunity to prove themselves innocent. So this young man who had lived here since the age of 2, whose whole family was here, who knew no other country and committed no crime, spent 18 months in prison while ICE worked to deport him. His family's finances were destroyed, his citizen fiancée’s life was put on hold, his own life was put on hold, all over the fact that he looked Middle Eastern.

If a judge finds that an immigrant should be released ICE usually appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals. The BIA frequently does not uphold the judge's finding so it then goes back to the judge. If the judge again rules in favor of the immigrant ICE again will appeal and it can go back and forth like that for years. The whole time the person sits in prison. This young man wound up in exactly that sort of cycle. That is when ICE offered him the option of voluntary departure. He committed no crime, yet he still sat in prison after 18 months with no end in sight. His family was emotionally and financially ruined. It was just before Christmas. If he accepted ICE’s offer he would be released and be able to spend a few days with his family and fiancee before having to leave the country. Voluntary departure would not prevent him for applying for a visa to return and that held a slim possibility of him being able to rejoin those who love him here in a year or five or maybe ten. If he didn't take it he was facing possible years of prison going back and forth between the judge and the BIA. He took it. He is now living in a country he does not know, far from everyone he loves and who loves him.

The last words of the Pledge of Allegiance are: “with Liberty and Justice for ALL.” They do not qualify that. Those words do not exclude non-citizens or citizens who live with and love non-citizens. The word “ALL” excludes all qualifiers. What about that do we not understand?