Know dope:
Some further thoughts on the issue of immigration I wrestled with today from a reader:
Like you, I’m an immigrant from Europe. I went through the grinder myself in the wake of 9/11, because of my Arabic name (it is Jewish-Arabic but hey, Arabic nonetheless). That’s my theory at least, because nobody at ICE/INS was ever available to explain to me why I was held up in France waiting for my immigrant visa (I was married to a US citizen thank god and legally entitled to one).
The immigration bureaucracy is terrifying, it literally controls your body. As I am sure you know, once you fall under the jurisdiction of INS, you have no habeas corpus or right to due process. Burden of proof is reversed, and the reason why there is such prosecutorial discretion is precisely because immigration proceedings are essentially lawless. So when conservatives talk about enforcing the immigration laws, well, it’s a little less than forthcoming (to say the least). This makes you appreciate the Magna Carta and British common law even more.
It is indeed hard to convey what it’s like to be helpless in front of the immigration bureaucracy. And one thing that has been missing from this debate is that human empathy. I know that my reader and I were legal immigrants trying to find our way through a maze of prejudice and prohibition; but I’ll never forget the radical insecurity of building a life knowing that it can always at any time be taken away from you. For parents of children legally in the US, the experience is unimaginable to me. Deferring the deportation of these parents is a basic act of compassion. And if the Republicans unleash rage over it, and still refuse to provide any legal remedy, their insensitivity will resonate for decades to come.
Some posts worth revisiting from today: the reckless language of Charles Krauthammer on immigration reform; the excruciating challenge of being circumcised as an adult or child; a model village where dementia is cared for and allowed; and some of the weirder window views sent in over the last few months. Plus: David Foster Wallace on sponsored content.
The most popular post of the day was Gruberism And Our Democracy, Ctd – where readers backed up the ACA; and last night’s Best of The Dish where I waved that inappropriate shirt. More on that today as well.
Many of today’s posts were updated with your emails – read them all here. You can always leave your unfiltered comments at our Facebook page and @sullydish. 20 more readers became subscribers today. You can join them here – and get access to all the readons and Deep Dish – for a little as $1.99 month. Gift subscriptions are available here. Dish t-shirts are for sale here, including our “Know Dope” shirts, which are detailed here. A final email for the day:
I just got back from seeing Rosewater. It is a beautiful film. During the section that showed the rising of the Green Revolution, with people in the streets, I thought back to how involved and absorbed I had felt about it, from here thousands of miles away, because of The Dish; because of you and your team, and your passion for following what was happening; and because of the rich information and context offered by members of the amazing community you have created. Thank you for creating that space, then and now.
See you in the morning.
The Dish 