The Ugly "Mass Deportation" Policy of this U.S. Regime

It's the evening of July 4, 2025. The horizon grows dim with the twilight. All around, there are the sounds of pop pop boom as people continue to set off fireworks. I'm walking in the dusky cool air on this melancholy Independence Day as the shadows grow over my native land.

I love my country. My ancestors came from the Mediterranean world, and I am the grandson of four birthright citizens. But I feel like my country has been hijacked!

What can I say about the government of the United States of America today, about the ruthless, ugly words and actions perpetrated by representatives of the current regime? What can I say about the persecution aimed at terrorizing whole communities of people, my neighbors in this country, who are being scapegoated, caricatured as “alien invaders” and criminals who are so dangerous that we are justified in treating them as sub-human? What can I say about a so-called “government program” marketed and presented with such undisguised brutality and vulgar “humor” that seems to invite us to laugh at the misery of others?

Today, we have government officials who do not know how to speak like adults, who threaten those who oppose them, who behave like thugs and bullies. They generate or exaggerate fear in order to push their merciless policies. They have no sense of statesmanship, no sense of common decency, no willingness to admit they're wrong, no clarity, no transparency, no honor.

Immigrants are "Foreign Invaders"?

And now, they have intimidated legislators into passing a statute that provides 170 billion dollars to fund a national Secret Police force of gigantic proportions. The new expanded ICE agency will continue on a much greater scale the raids of their (at best) poorly identified, anonymous face-covered officers and unmarked vans on mostly Latino/a neighborhoods, communities, and workplaces. They are essentially authorized to arrest and detain without due process anyone they suspect might be in “violation” of the hopelessly convoluted requirements of our broken immigration system. (The “Department of Homeland Security” posts creepy exhortations like the one pictured here, telling citizens to “report all foreign invaders,” using this term to slander these immigrants and manipulate our fears and prejudices.) And now,  miserable “detention centers” are being built (such as one recently opened in the Florida Everglades) to hold indefinitely and defenselessly thousands of people. The vast majority of undocumented immigrants are not criminals (much less “invaders”). Some have been in this country for decades, working, paying U.S. taxes, raising families, and making constructive contributions to their communities and U.S. society.

We need a reformed immigration system that is equitable and generous in providing various pathways for people — especially our regional neighbors — to reside and work in our country on a temporary or permanent basis. 

Certainly we have a responsibility to protect our borders, and to protect the people who live here from violent criminals and genuine threats to our national security. But we must not close ourselves off to those who are in need or in danger in their own lands, especially when they include so many who are willing to work hard and use their gifts to contribute to our commonwealth. Why would we want to purge these people from our land and visit scorn and contempt upon them? They are human beings who want to live in accordance with their dignity. 

Let us not forget: the United States is a phenomenally rich country. Our neighbors are sometimes desperately, intractably poor. We have a responsibility to help them. There are many ways we can try to help them, but we must begin by recognizing their dignity as human persons, children of God, our brothers and sisters.

Does the current deportation policy respect the human dignity of our immigrant brothers and sisters? Does the flippant attitude, the brash posturing, the fear-mongering, the scapegoating, and the vulgar threats and denunciations against those who oppose this policy show respect for anyone's human dignity?