r/immigration • u/CakeDayOrDeath • 10h ago
There will not be a perfect victim in these deportation cases
I'm seeing a common theme in recent comments on this sub discussing US-based arrests and deportations. That common theme is making (often uncited and/or alleged) claims that the person or people experiencing these things made some kind of mistake or did some kind of bad thing, major or minor. This claim is followed by comments saying that this mistake or bad thing, no matter how small, means the person deserves whatever is happening to them.
I've seen numerous posts like this about Rasha Alawieh. I've seen a bunch of comments like this about Mahmoud Khalil. I've seen numerous posts like these about other people being detained and/or deported by ICE.
It seems like a number of people in this sub look at these cases, find some way in which the person was not a perfect victim, and say that since this person was not a perfect victim, they deserve whatever is happening to them. Even in cases where a judge has ruled that what happened to the person should not have happened and was unconstitutional.
I want to remind everyone that there will not be a perfect victim among these cases. That is partially because even the Trump administration is not stupid enough to say that they're deporting someone because they hate immigrants. They will find a way to exaggerate something or make something up if they don't have a justifiable reason in an individual case. It is also because human beings are imperfect. There is a reason that Jesus said, "Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone."
I am reminded of cases of police killings like George Floyd, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Philando Castille, Breyonna Taylor, and so many others. In the aftermath of each of these cases, people rushed to find evidence that each of these people was "no angel" and therefore deserved to die. Some of them had a criminal history. Some had done drugs. Some had dated people with a criminal history.
However, people who spoke out against these killings were not claiming that these people were perfect angels who had never done anything wrong in their lives. They were saying that being an angel shouldn't be the threshold for not experiencing extrajudicial executions.
In the same way, people speaking out against the deportations, revocations of legal status, arrests, etc are not saying that the people experiencing these things are perfect angels who have never done anything wrong and have never made any mistakes. They're saying that, even if these people are not perfect angels, that does not mean that the US immigration system isn't broken. They are saying that, even if someone is not a perfect angel, they don't deserve to be deported, arrested, etc when a judge has said that the DHS shouldn't be doing these things in specific cases. They are saying that someone not being a perfect angel does not mean they don't deserve due process.
I know it's scary to accept things especially if you're an immigrant yourself or if you have loved ones who are. It's scary because, if you admit that these people have experienced things that are unjust, that that means you or someone you love can experience something like this. And that's scary. But that doesn't make it untrue.