Many of my dearest friends from undergrad (at Franciscan University of Steubenville) are registered Republicans and/or self-described “conservatives.” They like to tease me about my weird brand of politics and some of them suspect that I have it in for the Democrats in my heart of hearts. The latest prank was to put some Rush Limbaugh books on the coffee table to try to get my goat.
These friends are like brothers to me. They would take a bullet for me, and I would the same. When we get together there is always plenty of politics, beer, religion, cigarettes, and the customary sappy man-talk about how much we love each other. It is pathetic and I love it.
One of the amazing things to me about our political disputes is that the deportation of immigrants that results in the separation of a family is off the table completely for all of us. Amidst all of the serious disagreements that continue to arise between us, there is no disputing the injustice of deportation in these cases.
To their tremendous credit, many of the self-declared “conservatives” were once registered Republicans until they faced this exact issue.
Polemics abound in politics, and immigration reform in general, but there are times when the truth speaks for itself.
Separating families through deportation is ugly and wrong.
This is where the immigration law in Arizona becomes deeply troublesome in practice.
Look, I think that drug cartels need to be disbanded; Mexico must be held accountable to its people and bring an end to the aristocratic and racist society it has built; U.S. employers–especially restaurants—need to advocate for ways to legalize their workforce, to free them from fear of deportation; the Americas need to build solidarity together and begin to re-imagine what we might become together. I think all of this and more.
But amidst all of these issues and polemics, the families who are being torn apart cannot be forgotten. Immigration “laws” that create orphans are intolerable non-laws and must be resisted.
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