The Consistency of True Justice

 A lot of issues are going on in our nation right now, including debates over the role of ICE.  At the school I work at, this has become a hot topic as about 46% of the student body is Hispanic.  However, a lot of misinformation surrounds the role of ICE, and I wanted to address that here based on something practical I am doing with my students. 

ICE is a law enforcement agency, an agency with a very specific focus but law enforcement nonetheless.  Also, Trump did not start ICE - it was started during the Obama area if memory serves correctly.  That being said, a lot of political mythology has cropped up regarding ICE and its role, and a lot of that attempts to demonize the agency and its employees, which is not fair to them nor is it totally accurate.  Let me tell you a short story about that to illustrate.

When I was doing my undergraduate degree in college, I worked as a security officer for a large Pentecostal megachurch called Carpenter's Home in Lakeland, FL.  A security officer - even if unarmed - has to be state-licensed, and the requirement for state licensure is to take a weeklong course.  In this case, mine was in February 1995 at a local vocational school called Traviss Tech Center.  The course was taught by two local county sheriff's deputies, two very capable officers who actually gave us some important information as in many aspects security work and police work do dovetail.  Part of the instruction included traffic control, as in many venues private security handles things such as parking, etc.  While a security officer does not have the full access to power a police officer has, many of the same procedures apply.  When we were doing the traffic unit in our training, the one deputy instructor gave us a valuable piece of information about traffic patrol that seems common-sense, but often individual paranoia obscurs.   He mentioned that often when a police officer is on a highway at a stoplight behind another vehicle, the mythology is that somehow the cop is running a tag on the car in front of them and it makes the driver of the car paranoid.  The deputy assured us that in many cases the cop is not even paying attention to the license of the car in front of them for several reasons.  First, if you are observing the law, then you have nothing to worry about - the only time you will attract a cop's attention is if you give them a motive to pay attention to you.  Secondly, the cop is also driving, and he has to keep an eye on the road for his own safety driving - if he is running numbers on his system while driving, he will likely run into a tree and crack up the police cruiser or worse, injure or endanger himself.  Third, there are laws in place that keep police authority in its own lane - a cop cannot intentionally harass anyone without cause, and if he does then it can bring some serious consequences.  Keeping this in mind, these standards don't just apply to your local town cops, but to all law enforcement, and that includes ICE.  That being said, I want to give a bit of perspective on these current debates on the role of ICE.

The three reasons I noted above for the traffic cop also applies to ICE agents.   To reiterate in context, first, ICE is not going to randomly detain people and will only exercise that if something attracts their attention.  This problem is exacerbated by the various protests and violent actions of some activists, who fail to understand that they are making the problem worse and are not helping anyone.  Recently, at the school I work with, the campus minister (who is a proponent of Marxist-influenced "liberation theology") was organizing anti-ICE rallies with the students on campus, and in doing so he actually caused some families to be at greater risk.  His drawing attention to them more or less painted a huge bulls-eye on the backs of the very people he wanted to help.  However, that is par for the course for political posturing - often the loudest people in the room accomplish two things - they end up doing the most damage, or they end up being the ones that do nothing because they thrive on the chaos.  No creative solutions, no strategy - just a lot of loud talk and no action.  These people are described in Scripture as "tinkling cymbals."   And, others would be advised to avoid and ignore them because they are attention hogs - this is very true of the campus minister at the school where I teach.  And, that leads to a second point.

ICE cannot randomly round up and deport people because it is not practical.  It would be a waste of resources for one thing, because like every other government agency, ICE has an allocated budget and cannot exceed it.  Also, as a matter of safety and priority, the real targets of ICE are not the hard-working quiet immigrant families, but are active criminals.  ICE is way too busy with that to be concerned with a person who says "Buenos Dias" on a sidewalk instead of "good morning."  Therefore, even if by chance an ICE vehicle is cruising a neighborhood (and honestly, I have yet to see one myself) they probably have a reason to be there.  So, there is no need to panic unless you have reason to, and in that case perhaps you need to rectify the situation. 

The third thing is legal obligations.  Like any other government entity, ICE is regulated by a set of laws that limit what it can and cannot do.  So, ICE cannot randomly raid schools, churches, or even private homes just because they feel like it - anyone who says otherwise is lying and has no concept of what the law actually says.  Also, despite someone being undocumented, ICE has to exercise some basic human decency and cannot target with intent unless there is probable cause to do so.  Again, when these protesters and idiots stir up trouble, they are compounding the issue rather than resolving it because then they put the very people they should protect right in the center of a bulls-eye ICE can focus on.  I hope that clarifies any misunderstandings that the pundits and talking-heads in secular media are cultivating.

Now, let's talk about undocumented immigrants themselves.  I don't think that any decent human being - including the vast majority of hard-working ICE agents - wants to bring harm to these people.  The fact they are undocumented however is an issue, and if they are otherwise good and respectful people, then they can get help they need to make their situation legal.   For a start, let's identify two barriers many of these people have that may be causing the problem.  The first is language - many undocumented immigrants are not fluent in English, and that creates barriers to filling out paperwork.   Second, there is also a financial barrier, as many of these people struggle and are not independently wealthy.  If they can be assisted in these areas, it would go a long way.   However, many "activists" are not interested in solutions, but rather want to create more chaos for these people, and that doesn't do anyone any favors, including undocumented people.  Many of these undocumented people are actually good, decent, and even hard-working people who could be an asset to our nation, so for them there needs to be a mechanism in place to assist them with being legal.  Many Catholic dioceses have refugee and immigrant offices which handle paperwork like that, and often these services are given pro bono to families who are struggling, and Spanish-language (as well as other languages) services are provided to make the process more manageable for these people.  Additionally, in many cases, if a family can get at least a minimum of three character references from friends who are citizens, that goes a long way too.  And, if per chance ICE does encounter them, they will largely be left alone if the ICE agent sees they are being proactive in obtaining legal status.  Perhaps if we started using the brains God gave us to create constructive solutions instead of doing destructive actions, this issue would not be a huge problem.  I have personally volunteered for my Spanish-speaking students to provide a character witness for their families if they need it, and in doing so it is a more proactive approach than the loud, obnoxious protests some do in a false pretense of "justice."  

Bottom line, I don't think any decent American citizen is against immigration, but the system needs reform and the process must be legal, and just as in any other nation on the planet, just showing up here does not guarantee a carte-blanche status.  So, if you are an undocumented immigrant, please pursue legal channels to have documented status, whether that is as a permanent resident or even a citizen.  It's the law, and laws exist for a reason.  And, also, if you are seeing the loudmouths and protesters throwing rocks at ICE agents, don't be part of that - it will harm your chances for legal standing in our nation.  Thank you for allowing me to share today, and will see you next time.