In an effort to “secure our border” many American citizens are being illegally deported from the country in which they were born and raised. An article from the Austin American Statesman recounts a nightmare of a story for one mentally ill man in California. Pedro Guzman was arrested on a misdemeanor charge and signed a waiver in which he agreed to leave the country without a hearing. Mr. Guzman cannot read or write. He spent 3 months in Mexico homeless while his mother wandered through Tijuana carrying his picture and looking for him.
The sad and scary part of this story is that this is not on isolated incident. As the U.S. expects to see more and more illegal alien crackdowns the numbers of people wrongly accused and deported is expected to rise along with it. With all the propaganda that was spoon fed to the masses by the Bush administration these situations will become more common place and the citizens of this country will become more desensitized to the violations of the human rights of their fellow citizens. According to the article many more cases have been reported and one can only imagine the amount of cases that have gone undiscovered.
Between the cases of American citizens being wrongfully deported and the building of a ridiculous wall on the border, racial intolerance has only begun to scratch the surface. What was more appalling than the article itself were the comments left by some of the people in the Central Texas area. It is easier for someone to take aim at a culture and race that does not resemble their own. If American citizens are being targeted for deportation for no other reason than their appearance what’s next? Concentration camps? Although the road to this scenario seems improbable it’s not by any means impossible, and the longer the law enforcement of this country continue to bow down to the radical and overzealous right wing scare tactics then perhaps we as a nation are closer to this atrocity than we think.
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In response to your post on April 14th titled, what does a U.S. citizen look like? I strongly disagree with your interpretation of the chosen article.
ReplyDeleteYou said “With all the propaganda that was spoon fed to the masses by the Bush administration” as well as your statement “Between the cases of American citizens being wrongfully deported and the building of a ridiculous wall on the border, racial intolerance has only begun to scratch the surface.” I wonder what you meant when you wrote “all the propaganda that was spoon fed to the masses” It couldn’t possibly be about the thousands of people murdered, kidnapped, and tortured by drug cartels running drugs through our borders. Or about that story of a military hummer with a .50 caliber machine gun strapped to the roof, escorting suv’s containing drugs that U.S. border patrol agents had to watch cross the border, but couldn’t do anything because they were outgunned. Maybe it was about the unknown number of illegal immigrants entering the United States every year?...nah, probably not. Personally, I would like to believe if that was my father, brother, friend who was working as a border patrol agent, that having a wall between them and a .50 caliber bullet would be a not so bad idea.
Secondly, I am having a difficult time understanding your believing that the deportation of Pedro Guzman was due to racism. He was deported because he was believed to be here illegally. He couldn’t read or write and was mentally ill, he couldn’t tell the officers in the jail he was housed(for a misdemeanor offence) that he was a citizen. Also, quoting from the same article as you, Jim Hayes, ICE director of detention and removal, said he is aware of only 10 cases of U.S. citizens detained in the past five years. Even if combined with the cases found by the AP, "that's not an epidemic" Jim Hayes also added that “agents investigate any claims to U.S. citizenship, but they often turn out to be false. He said immigration officials never knowingly hold someone they can definitively determine is a citizen.” So this is clearly an isolated instance.
Also, your comment stating “the longer the law enforcement of this country continue to bow down to the radical and overzealous right wing scare tactics” now seriously, I am a proud card carrying member of “The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy” (we don’t actually have a card, but a secret handshake would be nice) and my beliefs as well as the majority of the right-wing are based on facts. Solid numbers, factual statistics and the law of the land. I believe every single person on the face of this earth has a GOD GIVEN right to be free. I just believe it should be done legally. Wouldn’t it be much easier to simply deny entry to the criminals, while letting the many honest, hard working, law abiding Mexican citizens the chance at the American Dream? My party is not a party of racism and intolerance. Sure there are the extremist, but your own political party houses extremism as well. However, the extremist are not a majority, nor do they have much of a voice. That is why most Americans simply choose to ignore them. Furthermore, how is law enforcement bowing down? It sounds like they are simply doing their job enforcing the law.
In closing, Pedro Guzman was at the wrong place, at the wrong time, doing the wrong thing and got arrested (where was his mom then?). It was not racism. Mexicans are not the only nationality being deported, believe it or not Canadians get deported to (and they look a lot like us). People will fall through the cracks, it happens. I am truly sorry Pedro Guzman had to endure this horrible situation. It must have been terrifying for him and I do not wish that experience on any human being. But the fact remains, that racism had nothing to do with what happened, it was just a lapse in the system that would happen in any kind of administration.
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ReplyDeleteI have some comments and strong disagreements concerning the conclusions drawn in this post. On the topic itself I do agree that there must be drastic measures taken to ensure that United States citizens are protected from being deported. Whether it is 10 or hundreds of people a year, that is a given. On the other hand, citizens should also be protected from the threat of illegal immigration and the violence of drug wars in Mexico, as well as terrorist attacks. I prefer not to wait for something like 9/11 to happen again before deciding to crack down on national security. Unfortunately, I believe thats what it will take for liberals to decide it may be a good idea after all.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the man deported in the story, I think we should be careful when we call a mistake "racism." I know that there are, without a doubt, law enforcement officials who treat citizens with bias concerning race. I am not denying that fact, but I do not think racism is the issue in every similar case. It is mentioned in the article cited, that "agents investigate any claims to U.S. citizenship, but they often turn out to be false...immigration officials never knowingly hold someone they can definitively determine is a citizen." That being the case, easing up on border control will not solve any problems, but only cause more chaos within the system. Allowing illegal aliens access to what is not theirs creates an extreme injustice. It steals jobs, tax dollars and opportunities from deserving American citizens, but also mistreats and underpays immigrants. Yes, I know a few who pat themselves on the back for helping out an illegal immigrant by hiring them, but of course for much less pay. The justification in this is that we are letting them enjoy freedom outside of the oppression in their country. The fact is, there are certain rights for tax paying citizens that should not be invaded upon by illegal aliens.
None of this is news to anyone I'm sure, but I am not about to criticize leaders who have and are doing their job by protecting the rights of American citizens, i.e. by securing our border. I am also refuting the idea that the Bush administration used propaganda that caused these events and will eventually desensitize the American people to the violation of human rights. I would like to hear more than your view and see evidence that can back up such a bold statement. I was further intrigued to see the assumption that this will end in another holocaust if its left in the hands of the right wing. I see a hint of hypocrisy in that you can call discriminating against American-Mexicans racism and turn to discriminate against republicans who value national security. I'm weary of partisan wars that focus all of their efforts on demonizing those across the aisle from them. Instead, we should respect our fellow Americans and work together to make our country great.
At least now we can put our minds at rest, safe in the hands of President Obama, knowing that the right wing scare tactics will be thwarted from causing a second holocaust. You must really have a one sided view of things to make such dramatic and hateful conclusions without much logical evidence. It sounds like you've been spoon fed some propaganda of your own.