The news is clear — some American citizens have been swept up in the anti-immigrant dragnets and DEPORTED --- which is totally against the law. Now I would bet that if you asked most MAGA folks if they approved of deporting American citizens, they would indignantly say, “of course not.” Yes, Trump himself has suggested that some American criminals should be sentenced to serve their time in foreign prisons — He even told the President of El Salvador to build five more for those American criminals. But I wonder how many of his supporters would be willing to go that far. I hope very few.
When I read an online piece “Citizens have been deported by Trump” it brought to mind an argument my brother-- an anti-death penalty activist -- has posed to some individuals who support the Death Penalty: “So, you’re in favor of executing innocent people, right?” Usually, the response is a similarly indignant “no I’m not,” though when pressed about the danger of making mistakes, a former Massachusetts official once admitted, “Well, you win some you lose some.”
The reason my brother’s argument is absolutely on point is because it is impossible to be PERFECT. The work of the Innocence Project where DNA has cleared previously convicted people on death row has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that innocent people are found guilty and sentenced to death ALL THE TIME.
I think you can make an analogous argument against those who enthusiastically support mass deportation --- such as those who held up signs calling for the same at the Republican National Convention last summer. I challenge all those people who tell pollsters that they are supportive of Trump’s efforts to dramatically increase the rate of deportation. SO, YOU ARE IN FAVOR OF DEPORTING AMERICAN CITIZENS, right?
Anyone who indignantly denies that needs to be shown the recent headlines. The fact that US citizens would be caught up in the Trump Administration’s deportation frenzy should be obvious to anyone with common sense. In fact, deportation of American citizens has happened before. In 1931, as part of a program initiated by the administration of President Herbert Hoover to reduce the problem of unemployment by sending Mexican workers back to Mexico, “….[n]early 2 million Mexican Americans, more than half US citizens, were deported without due process....”
[Details here]
Perfection in human decision making is impossible. A numerically controlled machine tool or a computer connected to a printer can reproduce the model or the document flawlessly. That’s why when my wife, Annie, got her doctorate we PRINTED her dissertation off our computer rather than hiring a typist as I had done for my dissertation twenty years earlier.
Returning to the issue of the Death Penalty. To avoid executing innocent people, we have to assume that a jury will always get it “right” --- that a convicted murderer will always be guilty. Also, we have to assume that the “special circumstances” required by the law before the death penalty can be imposed will actually exist. To assume such perfection is absolute nonsense, and everybody knows it.
Turning to the case of the proposed mass deportation promised by the Trump Administration, even if we grant that Trump and the folks at ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department are honestly pursuing ONLY dangerous criminals in the US illegally, --- even if they were honestly looking for “the worst of the worse” rather than not caring who they ensnare, THEY ARE NOT PERFECT.
Witness the absurd exchange between Trump and a reporter about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man illegally abducted and sent to El Salvador. Trump argued that the tattoos on Mr. Garcia’s knuckles were indicators that he was a member of MS-13.
[For the absurd discussion with the reporter, see here].
Here is historian Heather Cox Richardson’s “take” on that exchange in her “Letters from an American” on April 30:
“In a discussion of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man the administration rendered to prison in El Salvador because of “administrative error,” Trump insisted that Abrego Garcia has “MS13” tattooed on his knuckles, for the gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. But the photo Trump held up for the cameras as “proof” of MS-13 tattoos was obviously photoshopped with letters and numbers apparently intended to be labels for Abrego Garcia’s actual tattoos.
As Moran repeatedly told Trump that the tattoos had been photoshopped, Trump got visibly angry, first suggesting that it was thanks to Trump that Moran got the interview, and complaining that “you’re not being very nice.” Trump then continued to insist that Abrego Garcia has MS13 tattooed on his knuckles and said that Moran’s refusal to agree to that “is why people no longer believe the news…. It’s such a disservice,” the president said. “Why don't you just say yes, he does[?]”
Trump couldn’t let it go. He brought it up again later in the interview, calling Moran “dishonest” for saying the tattoos were photoshopped.
Abrego Garcia has no criminal record, and experts on MS-13 say his tattoos are not tied to the gang.”
[The Richardson letter from April 30 is available here]
I have to say I wish the reporter had not gotten hung up on the meaning of the tattoo and instead asked Trump --- “Why not bring him back and arrest him and try him for being a member of that dangerous gang if you are so sure?” Obviously, Trump and his enablers have no idea who are members of that gang because they haven’t bothered to try them in a court of law --- WHICH IS WHAT A 9-0 SUPREME COURT HAS SAID EVERYONE (even individuals in this country illegally) IS ENTITLED TO.
Again, even with the best of intentions (which of course we know Trump and company do NOT have) mistakes will be made and American citizens will be deported. And when shown their mistake (such as the “administrative error” that sent Mr. Garcia to El Salvador) they will behave like Trump and company are today with relation to Mr. García --- who is still illegally held in El Salvador. They will smile and wink and claim falsely that there is nothing they can do. (Though recently, of course, Trump has admitted the obvious – he could get Mr. Garcia back to the US with one phone call. He just won’t do it. Were you listening Chief Justice Roberts??)
My point today is that even with the best of intentions, a widespread round up is bound to catch American citizens and treat them as if they were undocumented people subject to deportation. I started this discussion assuming that most people --- even those who support Trump and large-scale deportation --- want to restrict deportation to those here illegally. I wonder. Why do so many of our fellow citizens seem willing to support keeping Mr. Garcia locked up in El Salvador? Maybe they believe as that unguarded Massachusetts official admitted when justifying the death penalty --- “you win some, you lose some.”
As with the policy of zero tolerance that produced the outrageous child separation policy the results of which were broadcast on TV for the entire country to see during the first Trump Administration, I have come to believe that CRUELTY is the point --- which is a crying shame. At the very least, people who support such illegal cruelty should not be allowed to wield power.