Jeffrey Kuang |
“This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice,” the judge said.
At the Evo A. Concini U.S. Courthouse in Tucson, Ariz., the Honorable Judge Velasco quoted American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in response to a Q-&-A with different groups of college students. I was here with UP’s Border Immersion this past spring break learning with the educational nonprofit Borderlinks. This was our third day in Arizona.
Velasco had just finished sentencing 70 undocumented immigrants to ranges of 30 to 180 days in jail in just over half an hour. Operation Streamline is designed to prosecute undocumented immigrants under the federal criminal justice system rather than the customs of immigration. He rapidly read the charges and moved them to detention by bored U.S. marshals. Crossing the border without a visa should be a civil defense, but detainees spend as much time in detention as criminals before imprisonment and deportation. It is a “streamline” in the sense that it quickens the process of detaining immigrants. It reminded me of an assembly line.
This statement he quoted puzzled me as I listened. He seemed to suggest that law and justice are completely separate, but I have always had the idea that the two are closely interconnected. If laws are not designed to implement justice, then what are they for?
In our discussion, the judge gave his case for the purposes of law. He insisted that we human beings are animals, which is true, but that laws are constructed to control our wild characteristics. If that is the case, then what separates human beings from animals? Why wouldn’t we just naturally succumb to our wildest carnal desires and go full-on anarchy? I know that he was arguing for what he believes is right for society, but to me he spoke in terms of insecurity rather than security on the issue.
I believe humans are different from animals because we have the capability of rational thought. Abstract thinking has led to the creation of laws in order to implement fairness and righteousness. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that “Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.”
This is why I identify people crossing the border as undocumented immigrants instead of illegal aliens. I do not wish to dehumanize them under that label. Much attention is focused on the concept that they are drug traffickers, and the judge even accused us college students in attendance of using and abusing drugs. I know some UP students took offense to his statement. Please take into consideration that many of those detained immigrate because they fear for their safety in their own country. Drug cartels also manipulate many immigrants, threatening harm to their families. Even in a down economy, people still cross. Even with beefed up Border Patrol, people still cross.
The people who cross are usually from Mexico and Central America. Beyond the United States, America is a continent. Mexico is our neighbor. Why can’t we love our neighbor? Why can’t mi casa be su casa?
I do not have all the answers to this multi-faceted issue, but there is much work that needs to be done if we, as Americans, truly want liberty and justice for all.
Jeffrey Kuang is a senior psychology major. He can be reached at kuang14@up.edu.
