Backers argue that the federal government hasn't done enough to enforce immigration statutes. On the contrary, it has done too much. It is past time we considered the human cost, and impact on American liberties, of these enforcement measures.
Consider last month's immigration raid on Lindon manufacturer Universal Industrial Sales. More than 100 armed men descended on the plant and arrested 57 workers. The human resources director is facing up to 20 years in prison and $500,000 in fines. The company itself has lost more than half its employees and is facing a ruinous $5 million in fines.
But who was the victim here? Human resources director Alex Urrutia-Garcia is in peril of a prison term that is nearly twice the average sentence for rape, and approaches the average sentence for murder, in addition to crushing, impossible-to-pay fines. For what?
Not for any act of violence against another human being. Not for any act of theft. Not for defrauding another. His life is about to be ruined simply because Congress declared that he must serve as an unpaid immigration enforcer, and federal officials are displeased with his performance.
The others arrested came to this state looking for work, not a handout. Many of them are fathers just trying to take care of their families, families that have been deprived of a father and source of income.
These workers were not arrested for any crime committed against an actual human being. They were arrested for failing to get government permission before exercising their natural rights to live wherever they can purchase housing and work for whomever will pay them. They behaved as free men, and in today's America there is no surer way to provoke the wrath of officialdom.
Martin Snow, founder and owner of UIS, is seeing the work of 30 years destroyed. His customers are losing a supplier they describe as reliable, top-notch and willing to go the extra mile.
Why? How does all of this improve the life of any human being?
The bigger picture is that aggressive immigration enforcement is destroying the liberties of all Americans. It used to be that Americans didn't need to prove they had government permission to work, but the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 changed that.
The Real ID Act of 2005, aimed at controlling illegal immigration, is creating a de facto national ID card. Once in place it will enable routine tracking, monitoring and regulation of Americans' movements and activities. This is the kind of control that totalitarian regimes have only dreamed of.
And don't suppose that American citizens need not fear deportation. Thomas Warziniack was imprisoned for weeks because officials thought he was an illegal Russian immigrant; not until a U.S. senator intervened was his family allowed to prove he was born in Minnesota.
Immigration lawyers report seeing increasing numbers of such cases. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice, "The burden of proof is on the individual to show they're legally entitled to be in the United States." But prisoners accused of immigration violations don't have a right to an attorney, making such proof difficult to produce.
None of this should surprise anyone. Our country's long borders and Mexico's ailing economy make effective enforcement of immigration restrictions almost impossible.
Nothing short of a police state could do the job. Is that what we want?
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* KEVIN VAN HORN works as a software engineer in Lindon.
