Hope for Empathy

Conservative columnist and former Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal in mid-December highlighting the president’s slipping poll numbers and cited the administration’s immigration practices as one of several factors. “Immigration remains in the news only because of the brutal deportation practices,” she wrote. “Itisn’t ‘build the wall’ anymore; it’s ‘don’t arrest the poor guy working the line in a second job at that chicken-processing plant.’ Americans don’t want that guy thrown out.   The longer the deportations continue, the more unpopular and damaging to the administration they will become.” 

While deporting “the worst of the worst,” as the administration puts it, makes sense to me if properly executed, the problem has been the administration’s heavy-handed, sloppy approach, as even the White House Chief of Staff recently acknowledged. And that approach is having chilling effects that we’re feeling here in our own community.  

Coastal Breeze reporter Lance Shearer wrote a story a couple weeks ago about the curtailed annual celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which in the past was a public procession from Kretch’s restaurant on Bald Eagle Drive to San Marco Catholic Church, but this year was contained to the church parking lot. He quoted a principal organizer of the annual event as saying, “Because of all the raids going on, people panicked, and they didn’t want to walk.” 

Let that sink in. People attending a religious ceremony were scared for their safety and security because of actions our federal government is taking.  It’s easy to detach from the humanity of that and assume they must all have something to be afraid of. And I have no way of knowing the legal status of those celebrating. But I do know the overly wide and haphazard net we’re casting with our deportation efforts is simultaneously casting a pall of fear over wholesale communities.    

Perhaps that’s the intended effect, and if so, we’ve sunk pretty low.  

At a Christmas party, I got to talking to a local builder about immigration and he described how recent activity by ICE has impacted his business, specifically one of his most talented and trusted subcontractors, a man I’ll call Bobby. He suggested I stop by the job site to meet Bobby, which I did one Friday afternoon to hear his story. 

Bobby told me that earlier this year, he was distributing food to the needy as a volunteer at his church when ICE agents arrived and detained him when he couldn’t produce the proper documentation. 

Hetold me he moved here from his home country of Guatemala 26 years ago.He said that while he’s undocumented, he has no criminal record, doesn’t drink, smoke, or use drugs, attends church regularly, pays all his bills and taxes, and has a driver’s license. His English is good.He’s always had a steady job and told me he and his wife have four children ranging in age from 14 months to 12 years. Clearly not a person that anyone with common sense would label “the worst of the worst.” 

“I’m a Christian,” he told me. 

ICE transported Bobby to the Krome ICE facility outside Miami, better known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” where he spent 25 days before his lawyer was able to negotiate his release.He told me the conditions were rough. He had to sleep on the floor, without bedding, and was permitted to shower about every five days, the occasional sandwich his sustenance. 

Bobby told me he and his lawyer are working to secure his proper documentation and he’s visibly happy to be back at work, providing for his young family. 

When I asked him what he thinks about the way our country is handling its immigration problem, he paused, shook his head and said, “I don’t know.” 

I do. 

And so does my builder friend. He told me, “I believe there should be a system that allows these workers to gain temporary residency so they can stay and contribute to the community and we can all benefit from the trickle-down economic benefits of their spending on housing, clothes, food, etc.”  

Politicians in both parties, until recently, have argued for years about finding a “common sense” approach to immigration and our borders, and like so much else that ails our country, couldn’t come to an agreement on a solution. So now we’ve abandoned common sense and are instilling fear in hardworking people of faith who are, in many ways, the backbone of our communities and much of our economy. 

As I said in one of my columns in July, “I understand the far-right’s feeling about immigration, particularly after years of the Biden administration’s disastrous border policy. But a secure border doesn’t have to translate to economic deterioration. In fact, a properly executed, common sense approach to immigration that secures the borders, removes criminals from our streets, and allows otherwise law-abiding, longtime workers to plant and pick crops, mow our lawns, and serve our meals would only help the economy.” 

Hopefully, this Christmas season and the new year will soften some hearts and usher in a more measured approach to immigration through a greater sense of empathy among our leaders. 

Merry Christmas, everyone.