While the deportation of undocumented immigrants and violent offenders who have illegally crossed U.S. borders is lawful, I am concerned about the trajectory of these actions. Intruding into churches and other sacred spaces and spending billions of dollars to deport disciplined immigrant and migrant workers is dangerous. The Federal government is wastefully spending taxpayer dollars on activities that invade privacy, erode boundaries between church and state, and threaten the rights of the people of these United States.
These executive actions and those who support them encourage xenophobic prejudices and put the Fourth Amendment rights of U.S. residents and citizens at risk. They also encourage State and Regional governments to endorse bills dividing the nation against itself. Missouri’s SB72 bounty hunting bill would reward Missourians with $1,000 for each undocumented immigrant they turn in or report to authorities. Missouri’s SB58 fine and imprisonment bill would allow the State to fine undocumented immigrants $10,000 for being in Missouri and imprison repeat offenders for up to 7 years. This is an egregious and abusive way to treat people seeking a safe haven or a better life in these United States.
The United States has long been a land envied for its opportunities. The “American dream” is not being destroyed by humble immigrants working hard for a safer or better life. We the people of these United States are destroying our economic upward mobility and political representation with our endless excuses and scapegoating. Our own greed and sloth sowed the seeds we now reap. Immigrants serve as one more convenient scapegoat.
Allowing our government to travel too far down this road of search, seizure, and sentencing risks a quick slide towards a surveillance state of sycophantic sociopathy and secret police. While I feel we have yet to reach the threshold of tyranny, these xenophobic executive actions and prejudice bills are taking us closer to a point of no return. Please do your best to ensure that we never get there by (1) resisting the search, seizure, and sentencing of undocumented immigrants with no criminal record or history, and (2) voicing your opposition to Missouri’s SB58 and SB72 bills which will only accelerate prejudice, division, and distrust among our people.
We have too quickly forgotten the history of chattel slavery in the American South and Japanese Internment camps in these United States. We can and will do terrible things to each other when we cease to see each other as human. And we will cease to see each other as human when we fail to treat each other with dignity and respect.
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
—Martin Niemöller
What is happening to our highest American values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness written into our Declaration of Independence (1776)? Do we “highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” (Lincoln, 1863)? What of the words inscribed inside the Statue of Liberty in 1903, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” (Lazarus, 1883)? Do we still dream that our “…children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character”(King Jr, 1963)? Do we still, “…hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness?”
Our predecessors professed these values in some of their best and worst moments. It is our job to hold fast to them now. We should only seek to deport undocumented immigrants with a criminal history that warrants their removal. Undocumented immigrants without criminal histories who crossed U.S. borders in search of a better life in a better nation should not be sought out and rounded up like dangerous criminals. They should not be sought out based upon our failure to deny them entry into this nation but based upon their failure to adhere to the laws of this nation after they entered it.
In the afterward to Víctor Frankl’s, Man’s Search for Meaning (1959), William Winslade writes:
“Frankl also uses moral exhortation, however, to call attention to ‘the gap between what one is and what one should become’ and the idea that ‘man is responsible and must actualize the potential meaning in his life.’ He sees freedom and responsibility as two sides of the same coin. When he spoke to American audiences, Frankl was fond of saying, ‘I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.”
We the people of these United States, privileged to have been born here to our mothers or borne here by others, must recognize that we are not solely responsible for our successes. Our troubles and the troubles of other nations are also our responsibility. We have benefitted from the lands and resources we previously took or acquired from other nations, and we continue to benefit from holding the world’s reserve currency. We have been granted that responsibility because we were previously responsible.
The so-called greatest generation demonstrated their responsibility by innovating and sacrificed their time, efforts, resources, and lives in the defense of freedom. Are we now going to scapegoat other nations and their undocumented immigrants for the debt burden that we sowed with our own greed and laziness? Would our immigrant ancestors encourage us to blame our problems on others, or take responsibility for those problems?
Those undocumented immigrants who cannot or will not take responsibility for the liberty that they obtain in this country will reveal themselves. Seeking to search for, seize, and sentence undocumented immigrants with no criminal history will increase our national debt while distracting us from our own lack of productivity. While it may not be illegal, it is unwise and irresponsible.
We residents and citizens of these United States must work to educate ourselves, increase our own productivity, and realize the highest values of our forefathers. We are better than this. If we wish to maintain our liberties, we must prove our responsibilities to ourselves and the world.
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
—Emma Lazarus
Petitions:
(Take Action SB58 & SB72- ¡ACTÚA AHORA! SB58 Y SB72, n.d.)
Petitions Against SB58 & SB72: Take Action SB58 & SB72- ¡ACTÚA AHORA! SB58 y SB72. (n.d.). EveryAction. https://secure.everyaction.com/u6Ae0rZopUykMdC2IibR_w2
(Coffey, 2025)
Coffey, S. (2025, January 27). Missourians against Missouri SB 72. Change.org. https://www.change.org/p/missourians-against-missouri-sb-72
(No Human Is Illegal: Protect Immigrants Within Missouri, n.d.)
No Human is Illegal: Protect Immigrants Within Missouri. (n.d.). Resistbot. https://resist.bot/petitions/PFSIBS
Sources:
(“Constitution’s Protection Against Unreasonable Search and Seizure Applies to All Immigrants in the U.S., ACLU Argues | American Civil Liberties Union,” 2005)
Constitution’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure applies to all immigrants in the U.S., ACLU argues | American Civil Liberties Union. (2005, September 13). American Civil Liberties Union. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/constitutions-protection-against-unreasonable-search-and-seizure-applies-all
(Korea, 2023)
King Jr, M. L. (28 August 1963). Martin Luther King, Jr. : I Have a Dream Speech (1963) – U.S. Embassy & Consulate in the Republic of Korea. U.S. Embassy & Consulate in The Republic of Korea. https://kr.usembassy.gov/martin-luther-king-jr-dream-speech-1963/
(Library of Congress, n.d.)
Library of Congress. (n.d.). Constitution of the United States: Fourth Amendment. constitution.congress.gov. Retrieved February 10, 2025, from https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-4/
(SB58 – Creates New Provisions Relating to Illegal Immigrants, n.d.)
SB58 – Creates new provisions relating to illegal immigrants. (n.d.). https://www.senate.mo.gov/25info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=355
(SB 72: Creates Provisions Relating to Illegal Aliens, n.d.)
SB 72: Creates provisions relating to illegal aliens. (n.d.). Senate.mo.gov. Retrieved February 10, 2025, from https://www.senate.mo.gov/25info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=523
(Smithsonian Channel, 2013)
Smithsonian Channel. (2013, December 10). This was life for Japanese-Americans during WWII [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcLXdGJFRkY
(The New Colossus – Statue of Liberty National Monument (U.S. National Park Service), n.d.)
Lazarus, Emma (2 November 1883). The new Colossus – Statue of Liberty National Monument (U.S. National Park Service). (n.d.). https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/colossus.htm & https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/emma-lazarus.htm#:~:text=Her%20efforts%20paid%20off%20and,the%20Statue%20of%20Liberty%20Museum.
(The Declaration of Independence, 2024)
The Declaration of Independence. (2024, April 25). National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration#:~:text=We%20hold%20these%20truths%20to,and%20the%20pursuit%20of%20Happiness.
(United States V. Esparza-Mendoza, 265 F. Supp. 2d 1254 (D. Utah 2003), n.d.)
United States v. Esparza-Mendoza, 265 F. Supp. 2d 1254 (D. Utah 2003). (n.d.). Justia Law. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp2/265/1254/2459658/#:~:text=The%20court%20concludes%20that%20as,the%20People%22%20the%20Amendment%20protects.&text=The%20facts%20surrounding%20the%20issue%20are%20largely%20undisputed.
(What Does the Fourth Amendment Mean?, n.d.)
What does the Fourth Amendment mean? (n.d.). United States Courts. https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/what-does-fourth-amendment-mean#:~:text=The%20Constitution%2C%20through%20the%20Fourth,deemed%20unreasonable%20under%20the%20law.
Video clippings:
(American Jewish Historical Society, 2019)
American Jewish Historical Society. (2019, July 12). The Emma Lazarus Project [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChhnZLO32mo
(Channel 5, 2021)
Channel 5. (2021, April 9). The history of slavery in the USA | A Big History Of America [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnlzezbKuq0
(FOX 11 Los Angeles, 2025)
FOX 11 Los Angeles. (2025, January 30). ICE raids, immigration arrests expand across Los Angeles [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ1NET1U9N0
(FOX 11 Los Angeles, 2025b)
FOX 11 Los Angeles. (2025b, February 13). Los Angeles immigrants worry about potential ICE raids [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa_w04QoVBI
(FOX4 News Kansas City, 2025)
FOX4 News Kansas City. (2025, February 8). Homeland Security raids Liberty, Missouri Mexican restaurant [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmAt9Q5dcXU
(TDC, 2013)
TDC. (2013, November 20). Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, performed by President Obama [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHAyepp7ypY
(TED-Ed, 2019)
TED-Ed. (2019, July 2). “New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaKUuk78L1A
(The Salt Lake Tribune, 2025)
The Salt Lake Tribune. (2025, February 5). ICE makes surprise arrest of immigrant in a Utah courthouse [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YItdPG4xIE
(United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2018)
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2018, February 20). Chapter 12: Then they came for me [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8VY_5f1dKE
(MOSENCOM, 2025b)
MOSENCOM. (2025b, January 29). Missouri Sen. David Gregory presents SB 72 in committee [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtzHQRCdlek
The Big Short (Paramount Pictures, 2015)
Paramount Pictures (2015). Uploaded by Extractor. (2017, March 7). The Big Short (2015) – Prologue & Opening [HD 1080p] [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psCF_AHuLM4
National Treasure (Walt Disney Pictures, 2004)
Walt Disney Pictures (2004). National Treasure (2004) The Declaration of Independence ( HD ) [Video]. Uploaded by Pennyworth. (2018, August 31). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AviSocVyEWI
(WREG News Channel 3, 2025)
WREG News Channel 3. (2025, February 11). Leaders react after video surfaces of ICE raid at food truck [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcFMFn5M_x0
Deliberating Truth 