In recent days I have read with great sadness and distress of the diversion of 6,000 Homeland Security investigators from their normal work pursuing terrorists, crime syndicates, cartels and child traffickers to the “mass deportation” operation being carried out by the Trump administration. Even IRS agents are being drafted for this purpose. This defies common sense.
Do we really believe that terrorism threats against our country have lessened? Do we really believe that undocumented “criminals,” including folks cited for shoplifting and DUI, pose a greater threat to our community and country than terrorists? And as arrest quotas are imposed on ICE, immigrants who have no criminal record are being arrested and separated from their families and jobs in order to permit the ICE offices to meet their quotas. It turns out there may not be enough undocumented “criminals” in the country to fill those ICE quotas.
In the meantime, terrorists move in and about our country undetected, cartels and crime syndicates rake in billions of drug profits, and children continue to be exploited in the worst ways imaginable. Our taxpayer dollars are wasted and genuine threats of mass injuries from terrorism are neglected all for the purpose of … what? Clearing our streets of undocumented persons with criminal records? Couldn’t we have accomplished that quietly and effectively with our current ICE resources? What’s the real agenda here?
What price will we all pay?
Once again, I exhort everyone to turn their attention to the serious business at hand, learning to live with each other in peace.
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