Deport expert
Fella goes to work in U.S. federal law enforcement all those years, learns he’s an illegal alien, faces deportation himself. Not a story you’d expect to hear every day, even if you might be vaguely aware that our nation’s immigration mess involves a lot of compelling personal stories.
In this case (hat tip to Josh), Raul Rodriguez one day discovered his American birth certificate had been a fake—a tangential records check found his original Mexican birth certificate. Rodriguez at this point had enjoyed a long, distinguished career as a U.S. border patrol agent after serving in the U.S. Navy police force for five years. The discovery lost him his border patrol job, connection with his father, and many CBP/INS friendships established over the years. He was about to turn 50, and was afraid of leaving his own home, for fear of the stigma.
The full story is posted here at CNN.
As of that report a week ago, Rodriguez had spent around five years in legal limbo, received a government reprieve on deportation, and made himself into an advocate for other foreign-born U.S. military veterans facing deportation along with others caught in the federal government’s bureaucratic gear-grinding.
While I consider myself more of an immigration hawk, the idea that anyone who has signed up for and served in U.S. armed forces could receive anything but full-citizen status strikes me as profoundly unjust—and offensive. While I realize that the immigration calamity catches up a lot more rule-abiding and honest people in its excessively complicated machinery, their stories do not dictate one political preference over another. A lot of personal stories are convoluted and complicated enough as it is. When you encounter personal stories like that of Rodriguez, you have to acknowledge the injustice of a system punishing someone trying to do the right thing, striving to be a good and law-abiding citizen.
If there is a simple moral to the story, perhaps it is that we should all be demanding coherence and competence from our government. But so long as voters accept political performance art rather than expecting effective government, I don’t suppose we can expect much improvement anytime soon.
Will I have regrets? Time will tell. I was just notified that my TMD subscription expired. I took it off automatic renewal some time ago and it caught up with me today. Of course, I had the option to renew but I've decided to let it go as it just hasn't meant anything to me of late. Will I restart it again some day? Maybe. I really don't know. I'm open to other suggestions for thoughtful reading and comments. Suggestions?
I have a simple suggestion regarding immigration. Anyone who serves in the military (or any federal police force) and earns an Honorable Discharge (or completes say, 5 years of service in good standing) gets US citizenship and full GI benefits. Applications will be taken at the border. If the services is not completed, deportation will done. The main question is, why is this even a question?