It takes a lot to catch this little bird unawares. That’s what happens when you actually pay attention to what’s going on.
So, was I surprised when Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown was found to be communicating directly with Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) to help him make a case against SB 54, the “sanctuary state” bill?
Hell no!
If you’ve paid attention to Brown’s rhetoric regarding ICE, sanctuary cities, and deportation, you’d see what I mean. He’s always been vocal about working with ICE regarding “criminal aliens who have committed serious offenses” as our county sheriff, and also as acting president of the California State Sheriffs’ Association.
Brown wrote a commentary for The Sacramento Bee at the beginning of August, lambasting the bill as protecting dangerous undocumented criminals. He also said that sheriff’s departments are there to protect people, no matter their immigration status, but that they don’t want to “protect or recycle criminals.”
Some are falling into histrionics over the revelation—How dare this desperado sheriff align with neo-Nazi Trumpkins in our woke-ass state of California? I get the concern, but come on, we all know that law enforcement leans right, and that working with ICE is something they’d rather do than not, at least in the case of violent offenders.
And on the other side of the fence, I’m sure there are plenty of people right here in Santa Barbara County who are applauding Brown’s efforts to battle the bill—Darn right! Get them gosh darn illegal varmits outta here!
Where the debate is truly raging is over whether or not undocumented immigrants have a right to live in the U.S., period. That’s why conservatives tend to call them “illegals,” which lumps MS-13 gang members with babies carried over the border by mothers who just want to raise their little ones in the land of opportunity.
That’s why U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) held a roundtable with a group of Dreamers—those are undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children—and called for their protection. Crimes exist on a moral spectrum, and using a term as dehumanizing as “illegals” is one way that the issue is over-simplified and millions of people are left to live in fear of law enforcement officers rather than trusting in them.
These issues are complex and require a bit of nuance to address. As long as we just fall into factional thinking and name-calling, we’re not going to fix these problems or make progress. But that’s what we’ve been doing, so nobody should be surprised that progress is slow going.
On the other hand, this is how democracy has always worked. I know we’re in a pretty strange period in politics right now, but there’s always been lots of fighting, crisis, and hurt feelings. And the gears of progress have always turned slowly.
Hopefully the nation can collectively move past the politics of fear, whether it’s fear of undocumented immigrants or the fear of law enforcement who are just trying to do their jobs.
The Canary won’t be surprised if things don’t change. Send your thoughts to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 31 – Sep 7, 2017.
