There are some things I can’t defend

Newsplaining Column: I’ve spent my time here trying to explain things to people. I’ve tried to keep opinions out of these columns, instead focusing on data to make coherent arguments about why things should change, or why they should stay the same. Many have called me to the carpet for these columns, accusing me as being part of some liberal agenda, to which I disagree. I have always advocated and presented arguments with fairness to all sides, even calling for equal treatment of opinions and actualities in our society that cannot be refuted, regardless of whether or not I agree with them.
That’s why this is difficult for me to do, but I’m a person of principles. With the New York Times’ latest installment, “Stay, Hide or Leave? Hard Choices for Immigrants in the Heartland,” I am troubled with the story’s depiction of the national plight of illegal immigration against the backdrop of Hampton, Iowa.
The article was published on August 12, online, and made the actual paper’s Sunday edition the same day. The article’s author, Jack Healy, is not a staff writer of the New York Times; he is a correspondent (similar to a freelancer) for the Times out of Colorado, and I had the opportunity to speak with him before he arrived in Hampton back in early April. This was around the time that President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions were publically decrying towns across America that were considered “Sanctuary Cities” (cities who do not communicate with Immigration, Customs and Enforcement [ICE] officials when their law enforcement officials detain suspected illegal immigrants for crimes).
In our discussion, Healy asked me about Sheriff Linn Larson’s decision to change former Sheriff Larry Richtsmeier’s policy to conform with federal laws mandating communication with ICE when it comes to detaining immigrants. I explained that in both an on-record, two-person interview with Larson, and at several community outreach events, the sheriff’s office had no intentions and made no inclinations that there would be racial profiling. I explained that the sheriff’s position was that he wanted to comply with the federal law, which merely states that Larson should be sending information when there’s a ping on someone’s Illegal Alien Query (IAQ), and to comply with ICE’s request to keep a suspect detained for an additional 24 hours so that ICE can decide what it wants to do, before Larson would release the suspect after his or her charges were administered.
In Healy’s article, none of this is explained. There is no mention about the bare minimum that the sheriff’s office is required to do. There is no testimony from Larson about what he means. The only explanation Healy allows in the story is from an uncited Globe Gazette story regarding an informational meeting in which Larson explained that people in Hampton do not need to be afraid, as long as they respect the community and comply with the city, and the nation’s laws.
Healy asked me about the relationship between the Hispanic community and the, for lack of a better word, rest of the community. I explained that, to my knowledge of wandering around town, attending council meetings, supervisor meetings, attending community events and shopping at local business, I don’t see signs that warrant distrust or unrest within Hampton. And I believe Healy shows that in his larger interviews: that the people of Hampton aren’t rioting in the streets; they aren’t fighting each other, and overall, people are respecting each other.
The article comments on some members wanting stricter immigration enforcement, saying that “it could” (not “it would” — two very different words) make the country safer, while juxtaposing those statements with others saying that the government should just give out temporary permits in order to collect taxes on their work. Whether Healy’s point was to divide the population on immigration, or to illustrate the population’s seeming apathy to the whole issue, I can’t tell, and maybe that’s the point. The article appears to have an agenda to tear at heartstrings without asking a larger question, or without a story that fits the narrative.
To quote the article, “The heartland is freckled with Hamptons and Ediths. In small agricultural towns that supported President Trump by 20-point margins, residents are now seeing an immigration crackdown ripple through the families that have helped revive their downtown squares and transform their economies.” The article does not back up this statement. Where has the crackdown occurred? According to a story the Hampton Chronicle published about Larson disagreeing with an ICE document about refusals of ICE inquiries back in March, less than five inquiries were administered. A big problem I have with this story is that is paints the plight of illegal immigrants in the nation against the backdrop of a town that doesn’t really have a problem within itself or its neighbors. It only cites one family, when there are many communities not only in Iowa, but across rural America that have high Hispanic populations.
I do not like defending President Trump, but here, I have to. According to Vox.com, deportations under former president Obama were higher than President Trump’s for the seven months of office held. The fear of illegal immigrants didn’t suddenly “come up.” For eight years, families had to fear ICE and fear being pulled over without a license, which could result in deportation. Trump didn’t start this, and to give the ambience that he did is wrong. Healy’s language tries to paint a conflict in Hampton between several parties, focusing on a myriad of issues that doesn’t ever resolve.
Now, this is not to say I don’t support a quicker path to citizenship. It shouldn’t take 10 years to become a citizen. This isn’t also to say that I’m not sensitive to families being torn apart. But at the same time, America’s laws are laws. I don’t think that carrying marijuana should result in jail time, but regardless, it’s a law that must be followed if I don’t want to go to jail. We should have laws that make immigration easier. We should have better access to permits and more temporary visas to accommodate workers who cross borders. But that still doesn’t detract form the fact that illegal immigration is illegal. Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants take risks being in America, and if they are ok with living with those risks — with arranging car rides, with arranging childcare and arranging a line of work that stays out of the spotlight — then I wish them the best of luck, and pray that their families get to stay together.
Healy’s article is heavy with inflection to overcompensate for the fact that his story lacks a motive and a message. It paints Hampton in line with a larger issue that it isn’t really a part of. I’m disappointed that I’ve been forced by principle to write this, and appear to not have a heart or care, but at the same time, I don’t advocate the ambulance chasing done by some reporters, when there’s been no ambulance.