Thursday, August 08, 2019

Heartsick

This morning, I heard the news about the ICE raids in Mississippi and was heartsick as I listened to the details.  Workers rounded up with their hands tied behind their backs; ICE agents proud about these actions, as if they are acting within the law and that somehow makes them moral and good.

Rule of law is only valuable when the laws are just.  And, as this NPR story illustrates, raids like this round up hard-working people doing jobs that no one else wants.  Raids like this tear apart families and leave children with no one to care for them.  Raids like this make nothing better for anyone.  We aren't safer after the raids because we were never at risk.

Meanwhile, the large corporations employing the undocumented workers have nothing to say and, worse than that, nothing to fear.  The owners breaking labor laws haven't been arrested and likely won't suffer a single troubling consequence.  Those consequences are reserved for poor, hardworking immigrants struggling to make their lives better. 

There is nothing great or good about this.

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