No Borders and Binaries

The progressive media is finally paying more attention to the emerging police state in light of immigration crackdowns in Postville, Iowa and the Washington Post report on the (mis)treatment of immigrant detainees. Joshua Holland provides a good summation in his article of the actions carried out by the enforcers of immigration law, actions that were in violation of worker’s constitutional rights and due process of law:

Enforcement on Steroids: Homeland Security’s Emerging Immigration Police State (Part I)

Some would call it a victory for law and order. But a closer look at the showy example of “getting tough on illegals” offers some insight into what immigration restrictionists are really asking for when they call for more immigration enforcement…some of the detained workers are victims of crimes by Agriprocessors, Inc., which may entitle them to a visa, and accuses the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of arbitrary and indefinite detention and violating the workers’ constitutional rights…in the overwhelming majority of these raids — 98 percent, according to the Washington Post — the only people to pay any penalty are poor people trying to earn a substandard wage working in America’s growing unregulated economy.

The emerging migrant-military complex overshadowed by rampant human rights abuses and disregard for the law offers us a great offensive argument in the fight for migrant rights. Anyone arguing against the rights of undocumented immigrants or the need to legalize them with the “law, order and sovereignty” spill should surrender and admit their faulty rhetoric. We cannot continue to uphold the law SELECTIVELY for workers and employers, immigrants and elected officials. We cannot restore order by inciting chaos and terror in our migrant communities. And our sovereignty is not threatened by immigration–legal or illegal. It is threatened by cultivating a police state to restore legitimacy for otherwise illegitimate actions, while profiting and strengthening the iron fist in the name of upholding ‘THE LAW’ which we continue to break.

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!