Carol Rose/ACLU Massachusetts compares ICE tactics to Slobodan Milosevic, ethnic cleansing

The American Civil Liberties Union is indirectly linked to the Mexican government and is a strong supporter of illegal immigration. Carol Rose - executive director of their Massachusetts chapter - (with help from their communications director Christopher Ott) pens the screed "Inhumane raid was just one of many" which should erase any doubts anyone could have that their group is not interested in doing what's in the U.S.'s best interests. They even finish by comparing ICE's tactics to those employed by Slobodan Milosevic.

They discuss an Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") plan called Operation Endgame (aclum.org/endgame.pdf) which supposedly has as its goal deporting all illegal aliens by 2012. I didn't read the whole thing and I don't know whether "all removable aliens" as used in the PDF refers to all 12 to 20 million illegal aliens, or just subsets of that number. What's clear, however, is that the ACLU wants to use due process as a cover for supporting illegal immigration, and they're willing to wave babies to do it:

The pace of raids will need to accelerate, however, in order to meet Endgame's aggressive deportation goals over the next five years. We'll see more of the surreal New Bedford-style tactics: arrest first, ask questions later. We'll hear more stories of the human suffering that results from such tactics: of nursing babies who become dehydrated when separated from their mothers, of 7-year-olds frantically looking for their missing mothers, and of minors being flown to distant states without adequate protection.

A very careful use of language; unlike the NYT, they didn't falsely accuse ICE of taking the baby away. Then, they engage in their "yes, but":

Obviously, the United States has the right to control who enters our country, as well as the right to deport those who are not authorized to be here. But the US Constitution also says that everyone's fundamental rights must be respected while it is being determined whether or not they have a right to be here.

Allow me to suggest that they read the definition of "Expedited Removal" from the PDF they provide:

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 authorizes the DHS to quickly remove certain inadmissible aliens from the U.S. The authority covers aliens who are inadmissible because they have no entry documents or because they have used counterfeit, altered, or otherwise fraudulent or improper documents. The authority covers aliens who arrive in, attempt to enter, or have entered the U.S. without having been admitted or paroled by an immigration officer at a port-of-entry. The DHS has the authority to order the removal, and the alien is not referred to an immigration judge except under certain circumstances after an alien makes a claim to legal status in the U.S. or demonstrates a credible fear of persecution if returned to his or her home country.

That would seem to assuage their concerns over "due process", no? Obviously, their goal is to tie the deportation system into knots. Then come the scare tactics:

Even most US citizens could not prove their citizenship on demand. If ICE raided your workplace, could you? If you're like most people, you don't carry documents such as your passport or birth certificate with you at all times. And in a free society, you shouldn't have to... [...much deleted...] Even US citizens, as well as immigrants who are here legally, will live with the fear of arrest.

Another careful use of language, in that the first paragraph only refers to U.S. citizens, and not legal immigrants. The latter are required to carry proof of their legality at all times, contradicting the second paragraph's claim. Native-born and even naturalized citizens will in almost all cases have little difficulty very quickly proving that they're citizens. The specter of citizens or legal immigrants being unjustly deported is tiny indeed; perhaps the ACLU would be good enough to provide us with recent examples of such cases.

Then, we get to the ethnic cleansing:

ICE tactics call to mind sinister human rights abuses from other parts of the world. The United States went to war to stop Slobodan Milosevic's attempt to "ethnically cleanse" Kosovo in 1999. We should ask ourselves how, just eight years later, we came to be carrying out a policy that involves such similar tactics -- lightning raids, mass arrests, packed detention centers, and mass deportations.

Anyone who directly or indirectly donates to the ACLU should think deeply about whether they want to support an organization that would make such a despicable charge.

It ends on this misleading statement:

We must stop it. It's time to bring operation Endgame itself to an end. We need an immigration policy that balances the right to control our borders with the civil liberties we must preserve in order to remain free.

I highly doubt that the ACLU really cares about "remaining free". Rather, their goal is to hide behind that in order to push a far-left agenda, including massive immigration of any kind.

Immigration2007a · Mon, 03/26/2007 - 12:24 · · Importance: 1