Not All Illegal Immigrants Are The Same

President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration has reached a tipping point. What began as a mission to remove violent criminals from the country has devolved into a broad crusade that treats everyone the same. Rapists and murderers are now swept up alongside quiet, hard-working illegal immigrants, all viewed through the same lens. 

The latest ICE raid on the Hyundai-LG plant in Georgia is emblematic of everything wrong with implementing a broad, non-targeted, and precisionless policy. During the raid, several hundred workers, most of them South Korean, were detained by ICE agents. In total, around 475 people were found to be working in the United States illegally. 

At a certain point, we need to ask ourselves whether it makes sense to send federal agents from factory to factory, hunting down, arresting, and deporting every single undocumented worker they find, regardless of past actions or intentions. 

What the federal government needs is precision. They must consider not just who they are targeting, but also the broader effect that these raids have on our economy and communities. The general argument in favour of these sweeping deportation raids is that the people being deported are criminals by the very nature of their unlawful presence. 

I believe we can acknowledge that fact while also acknowledging that just because someone is here unlawfully, the “criminal status” they have obtained is not always serious enough to warrant their immediate, surprise deportation back to their home country. 

The Trump administration’s failure to recognise this distinction has caused lawful immigrants, people who spent years working to become citizens of the greatest country on earth, to feel afraid and threatened whenever they leave their homes. The reports of harassment are not exaggerated. There are countless naturalised Hispanics who have been stopped or intimidated by ICE agents. By virtue of that, tens of thousands now live with the fear that, even if they are not deported, they may end up in custody or harassed simply while going about their normal day. 

This is not to say that more people should be allowed to immigrate here illegally, but rather to question what we should do with those who are already here. 

The criminals need to go. They need to be put on airplanes and shipped back to whichever country they came from. The people who have come here and made themselves public charges by relying on emergency Medicaid and other state and federal social programs should also not be allowed to remain. 

But what about those who came here seeking a better life? Those who work hard day in and day out for a modest wage, using that money to take care of their families? Do they deserve the same treatment, simply because they are technically criminals? 

Whether we’d like to admit it or not, each and every one of us is a criminal on the run. Studies show that just about every American has committed numerous crimes over the course of their lives. When you jaywalk, pocket cash from a side job without reporting it, or open someone else’s mail by mistake and decide to read it, do you consider yourself a criminal worthy of detention in a prison? 

None of us are innocent. Not by a long shot. Nor are illegal immigrants. But should those who pay their taxes, work hard, and contribute to our economy be treated in such an inhumane manner? Should legal immigrants be left afraid to leave their homes every day simply because of our relentless pursuit to take down these hard-working undocumented workers? 

The truth is, there are different classes of actors: the good, the bad, and the ugly. There are gang members, petty criminals, public charges, and factory workers. They are obviously not all the same, and we would be smart to remember that.

* Armstrong Williams is Manager/Sole Owner of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the year.

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.