Local police across the nation face a dangerous test. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are increasingly pressuring departments to assist in the detention and deportation of undocumented, non-dangerous residents. If our police comply without question, they risk losing the very thing that makes them effective: the trust of the communities they serve.
Let’s be clear about who we are talking about. Violent offenders — murderers, rapists, drug traffickers — should be arrested, prosecuted and deported. That is justice, and no one should object to it.
But the reality is that few of the 11 million undocumented people in our country are dangerous criminals. They are our neighbors. They work, pay taxes, raise families and strive to become citizens. Many fled autocratic governments and violence to seek the same freedom and opportunity that drew generations of immigrants before them. To paint them all as criminals, as some politicians do, is unjust and profoundly un-American…