In law-and-order controversies over use of force, traffic stops, execution of warrants, etc., I almost always side with the men and women in blue; certainly, giving cops the benefit of most doubt. They have a tough, dangerous, sometimes dirty job to keep us safe.
Not all cops are created equal. The unrestrained, undisciplined actions of some masked, tear-gas-wielding Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have turned many Americans against President Trump’s ruthlessly efficient campaign to evict millions from the country.
There are grave concerns. The excesses of President Trump’s sweeping efforts have wounded the agency’s reputation. Instead of targeting the worst of the worst criminal aliens, as promised, the ham-handed treatment of migrants has often resulted in targeting innocent civilians, some of them U.S. citizens, negatively affecting the relationship between the feds and the Latino community.
Check out this headline in the New York Times on Sunday.
“Federal Agents Arrest Man in Los Angeles Raid and Drive Away with His Toddler.”
Yes, as his colleagues restrained the driver, an ICE agent got behind the wheel of an undocumented immigrant’s vehicle and drove away with his baby. According to the paper, she was “a few months shy of her second birthday,” looking on wide-eyed from her car seat as the masked ICE agent drove her away from her parent.
To say the least, his actions were in violation of multiple regulations concerning the care and treatment of unaccompanied migrant children. Late in the day, the toddler was returned to her grandmother, who is here legally.
This campaign has wrecked the relationship between migrants and the government. There is no compassion, no equity, and sometimes no sense to the campaign.
For example, President Trump pledged to focus on the “worst of the worst,” criminal aliens who came to this country from prisons or insane asylums in Venezuela or Cuba. Instead, ICE is ambushing immigrants attending hearings or dropping their kids off at school or daycare.
Many self-respecting Latinos are so turned off by President Trump’s relentless campaign that they have turned away from MAGA, instead voting Democrat in last week’s off-year elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia.
The margins were dramatic. In both states, more than 2/3 of all Latino men voted for the Democrat, an exact flip from the presidential election of 2024 in which most Latino men voted for President Trump.
Locally, Long Island seems more inclined than New York City to give federal immigration agents its support. Nassau County has the dubious distinction of having “the most comprehensive agreement with ICE of probably any county in America,” according to my friend County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
I am doubtful this cooperation will long endure the inevitable controversies to come. It certainly will not survive the mayoralty of Zohran Mamdani, a staunch believer in sanctuary cities. The bigger question is whether Donald Trump declares war on his old hometown as he did in Los Angeles and Chicago.
As of a week ago, about 170 American citizens nationwide have mistakenly been detained by immigration agents at recent protests or during raids nationwide, according to ProPublica.
The nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power adds, “American citizens have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased, and shot by immigration agents.”
From the point of view of immigration enforcement, the good news is that border crossings have plummeted. The number in detention, around 60,000 migrants, is at an all-time high. That is a far cry from President Trump’s pledge to deport all 11 million who came here illegally, but it is significant progress.
My hope is that with no more migrants crossing the border, a less draconian, more pragmatic policy can be implemented for those already here, one that emphasizes compassion rather than punishment.
At the beginning of this month, the Trump Administration claimed that approximately 2 million illegal immigrants have left the country since Trump took office in January, that through a combination of over 400,000 deportations and an estimated 1.6 million self-deportations, according to the Department of Homeland Security. At what cost?
Nobody wants criminals in the country, but aren’t most immigrants you come across hard working and law-abiding? They are mowing lawns or processing poultry or doing construction or washing dishes in the neighborhood Taqueria.
As the messy raid on street vendors in Manhattan a week or so ago demonstrated, they are mostly innocents, the latest in a long line of aspiring seekers of the American dream.
