We Didn’t Start the Fire: Let’s Be Honest About Immigration Rhetoric
Contributed by Steven Merritt
The March issue’s pearl-clutching and AI-infused commentary on the ongoing immigration debate and ICE’s role (“Pouring Gasoline on the Fire”) leaves out one important point: Americans who speak up — in whatever form of civic participation — against this administration’s tactics and imagery certainly didn’t start the fire the author acknowledges.
The heavy-handed, abusive and dehumanizing behavior of agents has been well documented, as has the broad violation of a scope of authority that exists in detaining and arresting those suspected of being in the United States illegally. Immigrants in the country legally have been targeted — and even more egregious — is the arrest and detention of American citizens that fit a certain profile. This is conveniently glossed over in the March commentary.
The author’s blasé rationalization that illegal detentions and other violations will get their day in court is disingenuous. The “arrest ’em all and let the courts sort it out” enforcement plan is abjectly punitive, does nothing but erode civil liberties and absolutely rises to a level of moral accountability. American citizens and immigrants with legal status have literally disappeared from families and communities after being illegally detained. He criticizes invoking a “moral emergency,” but what about the cost — morally and monetarily — of that unlawful detention? Where’s the compensation for lost wages? Supporting their families? In the immigration debate, how does the end justify these means?
To point out these violations and tactics is the duty of a free society. Elsewhere in the piece, the author spends a lot of time chastising the comparisons between ICE agents and the Nazi Gestapo. Fair enough. Putting aside the visual of people being snatched off the street in broad daylight, though, other behaviors tend to at least give some credence to the assertion. Former Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino wore a long topcoat with brass buttons and stars on the sleeve that could have been teleported from 1930s Germany. And let’s not forget “By God We’ll Have Our Home Again,” a popular neo-Nazi anthem used by the Department of Homeland Security in a recruitment campaign.
Also, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stood behind a podium earlier this year adorned with the placard “one of ours, all of yours,” a slogan not linked to the Nazis, but to broad collective punishment. Even if intended as support for law enforcement — and in no way should ICE officers be targeted — its use belies a mindset tied to reprisals and intimidation — not democratic accountability. None of this is operating in a vacuum.
The author goes on to pan “emotional” responses, mentions human dignity in passing and near the end notes that “words create environments… and environments produce behavior.”
I agree with that last sentiment, so let’s look at two examples of the words and environments that have been created and amplified by the current administration and its allies to justify patterns of behavior.
First, let’s consider a broader message posited by influencers like Tucker Carlson and the late Charile Kirk, that white Americans are being replaced by immigrants of color, and the only way to save and protect must involve denying constitutional rights in some form. This reckless “replacement theory” narrative also has been connected to mass murders in Buffalo, New York, and El Paso, Texas. In my opinion, and to borrow a phrase from the author, “that framing does not inform.”
Now let’s move to a specific administration action, a social media post from the Department of Homeland Security last year that featured an AI-generated image of alligators with ICE hats touting the Alligator Alcatraz immigrant detention facility in Florida. The author says that the country must have an honest and civil debate about immigration policy — and I agree — but this administration chooses to cloak cruelty in euphemism. Where is the human dignity in that image?
So, yes, words create environments and environments produce behavior. Let’s be honest with ourselves about the societal damage that can be created by those with influence and power who seek to dehumanize, divide, and hide behind inflammatory rhetoric.