I’m a mishmash of thoughts today, and they might all be a bit jumbled, as more than anything, I feel overwhelmed by current events. I think one of the things I’m disappointed in most at the current point in American history is how gleefully so many Americans are jumping on the train to dehumanize people. Slap a label on someone (“Illegal immigrant”), and it suddenly seems a-okay by many for just about anything to happen to that person. Throw them in prison, deport them, or do anything else that’s “necessary” for the “rule of law” to be followed.
The justification I see given to what ICE is doing across the country (and even in my small corner of it) is that “bad people” are being rounded up. That they are arresting criminals and getting them out of the country. And when someone objects to it, Trumpists rush in to wonder why is it anyone in their right mind would want to defend rapists, drug dealers, and murderers. And for this, it depends on who you listen to. If you’re a Trump loyalist, you naturally believe him when he says all of these people are “bad people.” But then you’ve got studies being done that show only around 10% of the people being arrested are violent criminals. (Mind you, crossing the border once illegally is a misdemeanor. This is on the same lines as shoplifting, public drunkenness, trespassing, or driving without a license. If people are repeat offenders, it becomes a felony.)
Because so much of this is happening so quickly, there is no public record of what exactly is going on. We see no trials. We see no unbiased sources of truth, and so it devolves into which “truth” you choose to believe. That’s a real problem when the stakes are so high.
Beyond that, I see the tendency by Trump and his loyalists to paint anyone who disagrees with them with the same broad brush. If all that’s necessary to sweep someone under the rug is to say they’re bad or claim they’re here illegally, and there’s no requirement to actually prove any of it, then it becomes awfully convenient to sweep any number of people under the same rug.
And now we see billions of dollars more in funding heading to ICE, so they can continue doing even more of what they’ve been doing? Again, if you’ve bought into the Trump narrative, I suppose this is very comforting. (In fact, much of Trump’s narrative is based around simplifying a complex world into a place where decisions are easy and obvious. My experience is that we don’t live in a world like that, though I can understand the appeal to wish we could. Wishing, however, doesn’t make it so.) If you aren’t in that Trump bubble, this new funding is highly alarming.
As I was thinking about all of this today, I was reminded of the Mercy Speech from Merchant of Venice, and I’ll leave by quoting it. I’m a believer in justice, but I also believe strongly in mercy. Justice is necessary, but I wish we could see a little more of its counterpart discussed these days.
The quality of mercy is not strain’d.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God Himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this:
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation.