Actually I don’t want any criminals roaming freely in my neighborhood – documented or not. This accusation was hurled at me recently – that I want unrestrained criminals pillaging our nation because I believe that ICE officers are acting like the Secret Police. We don’t do Secret Police in this country.
I feel moved to point out to people who like what ICE is doing that they do not understand the law.
As my sister AAM says, “Every day’s a school day.” And so I invite us all to learn something about immigration law in this fine –but we-can-do-better – country.
Some of those being arrested are not “illegal” much less “criminal.” Some of those arrested are actually citizens of this country, because they’ve been erroneously labeled terrorists, gang members, and pedophiles. And the agents arresting the immigrants – or ostensible immigrants – are masked men in unmarked white vans.
This is the problem, the illegality, and the sin of it.
Can you – friendly citizen – imagine an ICE agent handcuffing you and taking you to a detention facility on your way to work today? Probably not. It probably won’t happen to any of us, especially if our complexion and life situation is considered unsuspicious. But it’s possible.
It happened to Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez in Florida. He was born in Georgia and he was held for 48 hours before being released by a judge who “found no basis for the charge.” It also happened to these U.S. citizens: Job Garcia in California. Jose Castro in New York. Adrian Andrew Martinez in California. Abel Orozco Ortega in Illinois.
Friends here is the actual truth and the law in this country:
- Citizens of the United States of America have the right to speak freely, to practice whatever religion we choose, and to assemble peaceably. This means we can criticize our political leaders out loud, on paper, and online. We cannot threaten them of course. But we can express our disagreement/disgust/disappointment freely. We can peaceably protest anything we wish, according to local laws (i.e. we might need a permit.) And we can worship cantaloupes if we want to. Also true: we cannot assume that our Christian church bells are okay any more than a Muslim congregation cannot assume that their Call to Prayer from their Muezzin is okay. It depends.
- Another fun fact: It’s not just “citizens” who have rights under the First Amendment of The Constitution. Any person physically in this country has those rights even if they are undocumented. Even. If. They. Are. Undocumented.
- There are several ways a non-citizen can be documented (i.e. legally in this country.)
- Green Card/Permanent Resident Card – People qualify for this based on family, employment, and following U.S. laws. They pay Social Security and can receive Social Security payments and Medicare. They cannot vote.
- TRS/Temporary Resident Status – People qualify for this if they are students, traveling, or working. They pay Social Security (if employed) but are not eligible to receive benefits/Medicare when they retire/are disabled. They cannot vote. There are several kinds of TRS:
- Student Visa – foreign nationals get this to study in the U.S.
- Visitor Visa – you and your family are traveling from another country to visit Disney World.
- Work Visa – Foreign nationals working in the U.S. or those with permission to work in the U.S.
- Temporary Protected Status – There’s a war or a natural disaster in your country and you cannot safely be there. You must appear in immigration court to check in regularly.*
- Asylum/Refugee Status – You need to prove you could be harmed if returned to your home country. The application document is called Form I-589 and you need the receipt of that app doc to carry around to prove you are “legal.” If asylum is granted, you get Form I-94 with a stamp that will state something like “asylum granted indefinitely.” They are eligible for Social Security benefits. They cannot vote.
The evil thing happening is that many of those being arrested/detained are actually in the United States legally:
Mahmoud Khalil is a green card holder. He was arrested for speaking out about Palestinian rights as a Columbia University student. He was not charged with a crime. He was not guilty of protesting violently. He spent 104 days in detention in Louisiana (he lives in NY) and his infant son was born during his incarceration. He missed his son’s birth.
Luis Carlos Jose Marcano Silva had asylum status. He was mistaken for a gang member, arrested, and sent to a prison in El Salvador where he’s been since March. He was given “little or no due process under a little-known (1798) law called the Alien Enemies Act. … invoked by President Donald Trump for the first time since World War II.” His family has not heard from him since the day of his arrest.
Rumeysa Ozturk has a student visa. She’s a Fulbright scholar studying at Tufts when – in March – she was seized by ICE agents with weapons and shoved into an unmarked van (aka a kidnapping in most places). The reason: she wrote an op-ed in the student newspaper criticizing her university’s response to the violence in Gaza. In spite of her own First Amendment rights, Ms. Ozturk was detained in a Louisiana prison for 6 weeks before being released.
Legal residents of the USA are being arrested and placed in faraway detention centers, sometimes in other countries. These are not terrorists or criminals of any kind.
*What feels especially cruel is that immigrants with legal Temporary Protected Status are showing up in immigration court to renew their status – which is expected of them – only to have a judge randomly cancel their status making them immediately vulnerable to arrest. This is happening everywhere.
What can we do to stop this?
- Be knowledgeable about our constitutional rights. Even non-citizens are supposed to be protected under the law.
- Escort immigrants as they go to court for their scheduled check-ins. This has protected several immigrants. Be like Bishop Pham in San Diego.
- Contact our elected officials. Whether you suspect they agree or disagree with the current ICE raids, make our voices heard.
Or we can continue to assume that all immigrants are criminals. Or we can sit in the comfort of our coffee shops and work places and homes and not think about these neighbors at all.
Image of Mahmoud Khalil whose letter from prison is here. He has now been released, thanks be to God.
A Church for Starving Artists 