Dear Friends,                                                                                  worst of the worst

They are not targeting the worst of the worst, they are not detaining the worst of the worst, they are not deporting the worst of the worst. Why not? Well, as the epithet “worst of the worst” itself suggests, there aren’t all that many of them. But they’ve got to live up to the new Stakhanovism, the quota, the quota or you’re screwed, keep those detainments going so the deportations can take off into the wild blue yonder according to schedule (at least they can’t send you to the Eastern Front, or Siberian Prison camps if you’re not up to speed, so you can be glad about that).

Please remember that it is still not clear that Trump understands the distinction between the terms “political asylum” and “lunatic asylum”. How is it possible that such a person can remain in his position for a second? This is not a minor issue.

They are targeting anyone at all who can be accused of the tiniest infraction of the law over decades. How many of the people caught up in the net – a woman returning from her honeymoon, a landscape gardener with three sons in the military, individuals who have served in the military – are the worst of the worst? According to the data they’ve been forced to reveal, very few indeed. How many are hard-working, tax-paying, honorable members of society, valued members of their communities?

So what are they doing, why are they doing it? Their gloating over the capture of people who have done nothing more than overstayed their tourist visas is an astonishing give away, they speak of them almost as though they’d found one of the worst murderers and rapists of their mythology. You broke the law, now you’ll pay.

Since they are refusing to reveal data even to the courts, let alone to us mere We, the People, we still have very little idea beyond very broad (unhelpful) categories. But even the individual stories are enough. They are lying when they say that their purpose is to rid the United States of crazed, deranged, murderous individuals who are immigrants.

I really don’t know what their purpose is, or if they even have one other than gratifying the infantile phantasies of omnipotence of the boss-man.

But whatever their purpose (if any) what they do is devastating. We must keep the overall picture in mind, but we must never lose sight of individual events: under what conceivable circumstances could allowing a bride returning from her honeymoon to re-enter the US be a threat to our security? I’m emphasizing this example, first, because the details, what her “crime” was, are so infinitesimal; second, how can detaining this person possibly be something that advances in any way at all the goal of deporting the “worst of the worst”?; third, and I think most important, how could agents of a nation that proclaims as its very identity life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness destroy one of the happiest moments, the coming home of a married couple to their life together?

Yes, these are relatively privileged individuals, they are back together, I think, I hope so. But they show what is happening, what will happen and to whom it may happen: every one of us.

None of this has anything to do with the “worst of the worst”. They – the millions of murderers and rapists released from lunatic asylums by evil governments – exist only in Trump’s imagination. But they are given substance by his minions, every one of whom, from cabinet members, Republican members of Congress, media sycophants know that it is all a lie (ok, I think there may be two members of Congress, one in the House, one in the Senate, who may be stupid enough …).

Unfortunately the “mainstream liberal media” continue to echo the MAGA-sphere even if in a somewhat muted, guilty mode that only amplifies their voice.

SO …

Speak loudly, forget about the stick. The detentions and deportations are a crime, the detained and deported are our brothers and sisters whatever our own status. We are all, whatever status, the people. We, the People are all those right here right now who stand together. Solidarity must be our watchword.

ICE’s actions have become more and more typically illegal. Resistance to illegal arrests and detentions are legal. You all know all that. But now, above all is the time for peaceful demonstration, peaceful intervention, and where necessary, peaceful civil disobedience. We must be there as often as we can. We must be willing to stand between the ICE agents and their victims (up to and including US Senators). Democratic legislators must defend the right of citizens to oppose illegal actions by police agencies. But leave all the violence to them. That’s their thing, not ours.

And now is the moment to see individuals, the bride, the father, the vet, and above all the children. We can’t see them, by the time we even know of them they’ve vanished, disappeared – a word from long ago that those of us who knew it had hoped we would never hear again. We can’t see them so we must take their fear, their anguish, their pain into our own bodies. Only by feeling with them will we be able to stand with them, bring them back to us. They too are the people, our people.

And let’s be clear, among all those detained and deported some may well be “the worst of the worst” (whatever that means), MS-13 and Tren de Aragua are murderous gangs. But, and this may be the hardest thing, they too are our people. A nation does not throw out its “worst” like garbage. What it is to do with them is a problem that no one has solved. But it’s so hard to solve because we, the people, all of us, best and worst, all our institutions, all of us together created the problem. And it’s no good saying “oh, but all these bad people came from Venezuela, El Salvador, wherever”. What they are able to do in the US depends on the US and the way it is. Plus, obviously, conditions in Venezuela and El Salvador are shaped by past and present actions of the US.

So, who exactly are the worst of the worst? Where did they come from? Or were they always here? Sorry, I’ll leave you with the answer given by the crow on the cradle to a closely related question:

that is a thing that I leave up to you

Love and solidarity,

            Bobby