Immigration sob stories are a dime a dozen in The New York Times, but an argument the paper made this week opposing immigration law enforcement is truly one for the history books. In earnest, the Times said if it’s unconstitutional for colleges and universities to racially discriminate in their admissions process, it should also be illegal for immigration authorities to detain suspected aliens based on obvious indicators of foreign nationality.
In a video editorial, the Times said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court “needs to address its contradictory rulings” on the separate issues, “otherwise millions of people will continue to live in fear of their own government.” Using two different subjects who were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last year, the paper said authorities had “no clear reason to approach [them] other than, it seems, the color of their skin.”
This is, predictably as ever, untrue. One of the subjects, Juana (“Juanita”) Avila, is literally a Guatemalan woman who, while permitted to reside in the U.S. legally, was apprehended while trying to retrieve the car of a suspected alien who had been taken into ICE custody. If an actual foreign national, associated with an alien, and whose professed first language is Spanish, can’t be reasonably suspected of also being in the country unlawfully, there’s no point to immigration law enforcement (which, by the way, is exactly what Democrats and The New York Times want).
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in a statement to The Federalist that Avila “bit and attacked” an agent during her stop. “Upon identifying Avila, law enforcement officers learned she had legal status in the U.S., and she was released.”
The other subject in the Times video, Javier Ramirez, was detained for haranguing officers who were engaged in law enforcement operations at a car lot east of Los Angeles. He admits in the Times video that when officers subdued him to the ground, “I was trying to move from it.” The reason for his resistance, he says, is that “I remember the video of George Floyd, and I’m like, I don’t wanna die.” It’s not clear whether, like Floyd, Ramirez called for his “momma,” was high on fentanyl, or had tried stealing from a convenience store at any point prior to this altercation. In any event, it’s worth repeating that resisting arrest is both dangerous and a crime, even when the suspect is having flashbacks to a drug addict who died while doing the same thing.
DHS said in a statement that Ramirez “was arrested for obstructing law enforcement — a felony and federal crime” and that he was released on bond.
What any of this has to do with the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling that it’s unconstitutional for higher education institutions to racially discriminate when admitting students is anyone’s guess. The high court has stayed a court decision that would prohibit immigration authorities from stopping and questioning suspected illegal aliens based on accents, language, geographic location, and other factors. Under that guidance, a black woman who speaks fluent English in New York City is almost certain to never be detained by ICE. But a man with a dark complexion in Brownsville, Texas, and who greets officers with “hola” might have different odds. That’s reality.
The reality is also that Americans are getting killed, murdered, and raped because of the immigration problem created by the last administration. Democrats and the dying news media are just fine with that, so long as it helps them win elections. That doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be. If a few Latinos are inconvenienced while the current administration tries to clean up this mess, that will be the least of America’s problems.
