The Outstater
A Random Sanctuary
IS IT TOO EARLY to admit that I don’t care what happens to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the deported Salvadoran and “Maryland father”?
First, I do not see the connection between my liberty and that of Mr. Garcia, unless of course I decide to transplant myself to another country as an ingrate to express disdain for its laws and culture. Nor do I believe as several congresspersons have projected that the deportation sets the stage for Donald Trump to “disappear” all persons of color.
For contrary to the media narrative we do not need a particularly good reason to deny or deport non-citizens. That is not a legal position, granted, but it is the history of every viable nation on earth. We can deny entry to anyone or, if they enter illegally, we can deport them. Why? Well, just because we don’t like the “cut of their jib,” as they used to say.
The contrary position is absurd, e.g. that if you can get your two feet on U.S. soil you can stay — regardless. Here is Jeremy Carl in the Claremont Review of Books on Todd Benson”s “Overrun: How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History”:
“Obviously, it is good to keep out gangs and drug cartels, but Americans are also well within their rights to deny entry to people who might be law-abiding in all other respects, simply because they would undercut American labor or add to our cultural disunity. The modern Democratic Party is hell-bent on ‘fundamentally transforming the United States of America,’ as Obama promised to do when president. There is no need to create elaborate justifications for strongly opposing their effort.”
I have personal history in this regard, as regular readers know. My German great-grandparents during WWI carried cards here identifying themselves not just as immigrants but as “enemy aliens.” They and other German nationals were required to present those cards to the local post office each Saturday, at which time they were subject to being taken into custody.
They were allowed to stay only because they were careful to obey the law and respect the culture. And they were here for the right reasons, particulary because America was where their children could enjoy the right to own property, a right allowed only the elite under their kaiser.
Also, and perhaps most important, they were hard-working, he as a butcher and she as a housecleaner. (Does anyone know what Mr. Garcia did for a living?) There were no NGO charities. They never became citizens or learned to speak English. Yet, among their children and grandchildren were a rancher, a lawyer, a county sheriff and a decorated Naval aviator. Several of their great-grandchildren were conscripted as teenagers for jungle combat. Nobody sued anybody.
So here we are: The Obama and Biden administrations have turned America into a sanctuary nation where anyone who feels aggrieved or even uncomfortable or just inconvenienced can find free shelter, healthcare, subsistence, heroic status even. No assimilation needed. Six to seven million random immigrants of unknown allegiance and sympathy were encouraged to cross the border during the Biden years alone. That is the population of a U.S. state.
If you’re OK with that, if you don’t want it corrected, then say so, but don’t confuse Kilmar Abrego Garcia with my great-grandparents. — tcl
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