Feds dispatch troops to the homeland

Twice in the past month, the U.S. government unleashed its military might against unarmed Latino immigrants, and their advocates, in places I know.

First, on July 31, Border Patrol agents in an armored vehicle, three ATVS, two helicopters, and two dozen vehicles, descended on a desert camp near Arivaca, Arizona. Here, volunteers with the Tucson organization No More Deaths provide water, food, and medical treatment to dehydrated, and sometimes injured, people migrating from Mexico. In more peaceful times, I visited the camp with a photographer when I was editing NMD’s newsletter. On this day, agents ripped tents open and arrested some 30 migrants receiving care, destroyed medical supplies, disconnected power to the well, and seized cell phones from volunteers.

Then, on Aug. 12, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered a workplace in Bend, Oregon, south of where I now live, and took two immigrant men into custody. Citizens blocked the path of the ICE buses, and when witnesses began streaming video of the incident, more people arrived and stayed into the night, demanding the men’s release. Finally, Border Patrol agents in helmets, armed with pepper spray, cleared a path to the buses and carried out the two immigrants and driver. 

Oregon is a sanctuary state, where local law officers are barred from aiding federal agents in immigration arrests. But now some Central Oregonians are pressing the Bend City Council to declare Bend a sanctuary city to stop ICE from enforcing immigration laws within its limits.

Why are people who come to the U.S. to work at jobs few citizens want, such a threat to our country that we call out the troops? Shouldn’t the Department of Homeland Security and its ICE division use their resources to uncover terror plots, intercept drug trafficking, and track down and arrest those who enslave and traffic human beings?

This is the mission of DHS: “With honor and integrity, we will safeguard the American people, our homeland, and our values.” If you think these recent actions contradict this mission, please write to your members of Congress and let them know how you feel.