"Illegals"
Propaganda and disinformation have left many in the dark about the realities of immigration, as a lawless administration turns the American Dream to an American nightmare.
The headlines are gutting: “At Least 3 ‘Tender Age’ Shelters Set Up for Child Migrants.” “ Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State”. It becomes more and more and more clear that our government has set up a system of concentration camps for immigrants, almost always dark-skinned immigrants, who are slammed into unregulated prisons with no hearings, no way of communicating with family or lawyers, and no way of knowing when or if they’ll be released.
And still there are too many people insisting on the phrase “illegal immigrant”, saying “my parents came the legal way” and offering other excuses to justify the horror. Immigrants have always been subject to bias and harassment, and the right wing has made the ignorant, xenophobic instinct to hate the cornerstone of their march to fascism, allotting billions of our tax dollars for a thug army whose only purpose is to spread violence and cruelty.
It’s good to have some clear answers for those I will refer to politely as “confused”.
Are we taking criminals off the streets? No. About 75% of immigrants detained have no convictions. People with ‘pending charges’ have not had hearings or trials, but ICE counts them as criminals and detains them in distant states so they can’t clear their names.1
ICE, and those paragons of virtue Kristi Noem and Tom Homan, insist that they are “arresting criminals”, as if being undocumented were a crime. This is false, as Google or Wikipedia will attest. Overstaying a visa is a civil infraction, like littering. Entering the country without a visa is a misdemeanor, like shoplifting or possession of marijuana for personal use. This does not make you ‘illegal’. But ICE will smash your car window, pull you through it leaving your children alone in the back seat, and throw you into a gulag without so much as passing a courthouse, on the excuse that you’re a criminal.
And the seals will applaud, although they voted for a president convicted of 34 felony counts and a rape, who was immunized on his pending charges for other crimes by the Supreme Court majority. And the Epstein circus grinds on, the crimes of hundreds of prominent white men clearly in view with no thought of punishment, no legal recourse for their victims.
It’s not complex, it can be said in a couple of tweets:
We need to be clear that ICE is NOT law enforcement. In reality ICE is being set up as a presidential, national paramilitary force — which is carrying out actions that aren’t legal under the guise of “law enforcement.” —Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny
There are “illegals” in this country, but they are not the ones picking your strawberries. They are in the government, obstructing justice.
The immigration laws in the US are a maze of conflicting rules and exemptions (see the chart under footnote 2) and this country has always run on immigrant power. So, we’ve been allowing undocumented immigrants to live and work here in peace for decades. Now a right-wing government has changed the rules overnight to make them ‘illegal’. And they have the budget (and apparently the Supreme Court majority’s tacit permission) to pursue their white supremacist quest against citizens next.
Are immigrants a drain on our national resources? No. In fact they are key to the solution of many of our most difficult economic issues, including population and labor force decline.2 They pay taxes without being eligible for most services. Their motivation to work is immense and they fill gaps across the skill spectrum, from nursing to nuclear physics—not replacing American workers, but supporting them. Social Security will go bust much faster without immigrants just one example.3
‘The Trump regime is waging a campaign of terror against people in America who are from — or who look or sound like they could be from — another country.’ The ‘Einstein visas’ set aside by Congress for the extraordinarily talented in medicine, research, and other fields, are now only available for purchase, by anyone who has a million dollars to spare. 4
Are we saving money to be used for citizens? No. “Even with new funds provided in the 2025 OBBBA, we estimate that permanent deportation would cost an additional $900 billion over the first 10 years.” And our taxes are paying the bill. It costs us about $70,236 per detainee, according to the Wharton School of Business Budget Model. (see footnote 3) Blue states beset by militarized ICE efforts are, of course, harmed the most.
We are fighting for human rights and democracy. Anyone who argues for ICE and their camps on fiscal or legal grounds is either misinformed, ignorant, or intentionally spreading disinformation. Most people would be horrified to see a dog treated the way ICE treats human beings. But they also can absorb popular lies. We can help them, protect them and each other, by keeping the realities up front.
Excellent article; I love to see the stats laid out, in case I had any doubts.