Hold on Tight

Two sides, both insisting they’ve got it right when neither gets it at all. One wants to ethnically cleanse our country, the other wants those doing the scouring to take off their masks and wear body cams. The bigger picture goes unseen.

Barely two years ago, the side favoring cleansing had substantial public support, with Americans seeing border security and immigration control as the country’s single biggest need.

We were promised aggressive but targeted immigration enforcement, zeroing in on violent criminals—the “worst of the worst”—who lack legal grounds to be in the country. Instead we got indiscriminate raids by rogue agents trampling on constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties, wantonly using excessive force. Most of those rounded up have no criminal convictions, many are U.S. citizens, among them children, even Native Americans.

Communities have been terrorized and traumatized, with tragic consequences. Migrant families have been captured and held without cause, in unsafe and…