Cold as ICE

For a few days it seemed possible that President Trump would back off on arresting and deporting any and all illegal aliens. News reports said that lobbyists for farms, hotels and restaurants were appealing for a break, as they can’t carry on business without immigrant workers. In response, Trump allowed that some special allowances would have to be made for these “good” employees; enforcement, he said, would be aimed at big cities governed by Democrats. But somehow, word must have reached him that nearly all immigrants are “good” employees working in critical industries. Murderers and rapists are rare. So we are back to the beginning: anybody within our borders lacking proof of US citizenship can be seized and, without any due process, dumped in a foreign country. It doesn’t matter if they have lived here for forty years, have a family, have a job, have a green card, worked with the US army as an interpreter, have well-founded reasons to fear death or persecution where they came from. We are going to get rid of all foreigners.

A woman we know asked us for $450 today so that she could complete her application for citizenship. She should have applied long ago, but it’s a lot of money for her, so she put it off. She has lived here for at least 30 years, her children were born and raised here, she has a green card and she’s a hard worker. (She cleans houses.) It’s obvious she is terrified. What does anybody gain by deporting her? What does anybody gain by terrifying her?

The Old Testament brims with commands to care for the needs of foreigners—”strangers,” in the language of the time. That was Jesus’ Bible. Do you think he would flout it as we do?