This Obsessed American (Life)

I fully realize that I have linked to podcasts way too many times.  But I'm going to keep doing it because podcasts really are one of the best inventions of the last 10 years.  It's a free way to hear people talking about really interesting things that you can take with you and listen to whenever it's convenient.  Brilliant.


So on This American Life this week, the theme was "Reap What You Sow".  The first act was about the Alabama immigration law, HB56, which is the strictest in the nation.  The idea of it is actually the same as Romney's "self-deportation" idea.  Essentially, let's make life so so miserable for people that they choose to leave on their own.  In the podcast, they talk about immigrants who can't get protective orders from abusers, can't send money to relatives, can't get their water turned on, all because they involve some kind of contact with some kind of citizen and thus require proof of citizenship.


Surprisingly, given my overall way-to-the-left political leanings, I'm a little conflicted on this issue.  I think I was highly affected by two things.  First, my own mother had to go through the immigration process, and it was really hard and they were not very nice to her (or so I've heard), so it bothers me that some people just skip it all together.  Second, I remember staying after school once and chatting to my high school Spanish teacher, whose family had moved to the States from Mexico when she was young.  This had apparently been a very scarring experience for her - it ripped her family apart, it took forever, and they were discriminated against when they got here.  She actually still had members of her family (some 20+ years later) who were waiting for visas back home.  She was very, very in favour of harsher punishment for illegal immigrants.


Now, part of me says, "Well, that's why we don't let the murderer's victim's family decide the appropriate punishment - it's understandable that she would have strong views, but that is one side of bias, and there is always more than one side."  But part of me says, "But...yeah, why would we reward people for cheating?"


However.


This whole "self-deportation" idea is a terrible one.  It's inhumane, it's unAmerican, it's inefficient and it punishes lots and lots of innocent bystanders.  It reminded me of Germany's approach to driving the Jews out before they opened up the labour camps - just make life miserable so they'll want to leave on their own.  Ok, ok, I know I just pulled the Holocaust comparison and that is totally unfair because the Jews were not doing anything illegal by being Jewish.


However.  (Again.)


I think heading down the road where we stop treating people as people is dangerous, regardless.  And for a party that is so obsessed with the "Judeo-Christian values" infused into the Constitution, they are awfully willing to let Creator-endowed rights stop with citizenship.  The right to be treated fairly and humanely, to be protected from abusers, to have a fair trial...either we believe those are rights from God or we don't.  I do.


Thanks for the food for thought, Ira Glass.