At work yesterday I got into a heated discussion about the deportation of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos. My co-worker was angry at the lack of compassion displayed in deporting someone who, by any reasonable measure, should have been at the bottom of the list of people to deport. I am a firm believer in the rule of law and while I do not like the current state of our immigration situation, if you start picking and choosing which laws to enforce you end up with petty dictators surrounded by people adept in avoiding punishment...wait I digress. What I am mad at myself about is not concentrating on what my coworker kept saying “why her?” Again, she was angered by the lack of compassion but I should have been asking the same question and looking for the deeper answer.
Why Her?
Ms. Rayos was arrested during a routine check in with her Immigration “case officer”. With between 8-11 million illegal immigrants in the country, we simply lack the capacity to deport everyone all at once. And of course there are about 11 million reasons not to do so, not the least of which the businesses that rely on cheap, exploitable labor. But again, I digress. Checking in with ICE is one of the ways you can maintain your ability to live in the country while working to change your immigration status or, quite frankly, living out a peaceful, productive life as a contributing member of society. It happens every day. There is something wrong with a system that you can die of natural causes after a long life before you can “get legal”.
Why her?
Ms. Rayos was doing the right thing and look what it got her. Because her case was so egregious it gots lots of media attention. Even people who do not support immigration reform could look at it and say “thats messed up.” And that was the point. The message was simple and clear — if you identify yourself to us, we will deport you. Hide. Be afraid. But most of all, stop coming in for your REQUIRED checks with ICE. Its a dammed if you do, dammed if you don't situation. Millions of otherwise law abiding immigrants will now break the contract we had with them of being visible and in the open in return for not being deported. Now they will return to the shadows making legal activities harder and illegal activities more necessary. Her husband even warned others to think twice before checking in with ICE. Message received. Simple. Brilliant.
Why her?
Ms. Rayos has a teenage daughter. She is 14 and a citizen. In 4 years she will be 18 or what we call “voting age”. Based on simple math, she is likely to be inclined to vote for things Democrats run on. In other words, she is a likely Democratic voter. Thats a problem. Of course she is not unique. One of the incentives for illegal immigrant parents to be out in the open with ICE is because they often have children who are citizens. But if you force them underground or deport them, they are likely to take their children with them. Hard to vote when you are constantly on the move. Hard to vote when you have gone with your parents to a foreign country where the closest Embassy or consulate could be multiple days travel away. Simply put, this is “future voter” suppression. Suppress their vote before they even have it.
Why her?
By all accounts, Ms. Rayos was a hard working member of society, the kind of “good immigrant” that we want in this country. Can’t have that. Immigrants are rapists and murders and this example of a hard working mother doesn't fit the narrative. So instead of going after the “Bad Hombres” they went after the “good immigrant.” Thats a feature not a bug. “Good immigrants” vastly outnumber “Bad Hombres”. Time to change that by deporting the good. The deportation of Ms. Rayos seems to have also served as a signal for wide spread immigration sweeps with reports of ICE going door to door in some areas. Door to door? You mean in actual houses where people pay rent/mortgage from money earned in jobs where they work hard and don't commit crimes? And about those jobs. I am completely opposed to letting employers off for breaking the law and think we could solve a lot of the immigration problem with some civil forfeiture. Lets see how fast our business community gets behind reform when the assets of Tyson or Hilton get seized for employing illegals. But the reality is most illegals work in small to medium sized business and their employers take a calculated risk that is often laced with simple humanity. That will teach them. Their valued employee is now on the run or in custody. Better think twice before you hire another one. And don't even try to move them out of the entry level no skill job because their replacement will be hard to train when there is no turnover time. Bad Hombres are easy to deport. You could overtax the deportation system by simply emptying out the jails of non citizens. Goodness if we did that we could even close some for profit prisons……
Why her?
One of the things Ms. Rayos husband said was that moving to a “Sanctuary City” is an option. Which “red” states have sanctuary cities? So now you will have people flooding into these cities with predictable impacts that will harden the hearts of even the most kind. Supply and demand will make services more expensive and labor cheeper. Yeah, everyone likes that. The Right will sit back and laugh as progressives turn on each other in the face of competing priorities. Most people recognize that over the long term, immigrants are a huge asset to states but we are not talking about long term, we are talking about getting to the 2018 election with peoples anger directed at the administration, not each other. This is just as smart as putting gay marriage on ballots in 2010 and “bathroom bills” in the years since. All politics is local and this is going to cause very local issues in the most progressive areas. And the irony is the Administration can claim to “respect” sanctuary cities by not going after immigrants there right up until residents beg them to come in and get these damn illegals out of here. Oh and that demographic bomb everyone talks about that will turn Texas blue? Yeah, not going to happen.
Why her?
Roll it all together. Scare immigrants into hiding. Cause them to break more rules. Drive them to “liberal” states/cities. Concentrate liberal votes. Free up “jobs for americans”. Scare employers into not employing any immigrant or immigrant looking person. “Prove” voter fraud because of declining voter rolls. Remove the incentive to be law abiding. Reduce the ratio of law abiding “good” immigrants to “bad” ones making the bad seem like a bigger problem.
Its all very smart. Far too often liberals brush off the actions of the right as stupid when intact they are not. I am kicking myself for not seeing it sooner because looking at it now, its quite simple and obvious. This administration may be filled with evil assholes but they know what they are doing and they are succeeding.