By Shikha Dalmia | The Week
In the federal government’s rush to protect America’s border, it is ruining the lives of many Americans who call the border home.
A few weeks ago, I visited Arivaca, Arizona, a breathtakingly beautiful unincorporated hamlet of 700 people about 11 miles from the Mexican border. No one I spoke to in Arivaca wants an uncontrolled border that terrorists or criminals could mosey on through, no questions asked. But they also believe the path of ever more aggressive immigration enforcement that we are on is seriously messed up. Even the current level of enforcement, they say, makes their town, and many like theirs, feel like occupied territories where law-abiding U.S. citizens are treated like criminals and enemies.
This issue is arguably more pressing than ever. President Trump just pardoned a man whose aggressive interior enforcement immigration regime illegally persecuted Arizona’s Latino community, with Americans living in border communities such as Arivaca particularly hard hit by the sort of policies Joe Arpaio promoted and Trump just effectively endorsed.
