My parents consider themselves one of the ideal immigrant examples, doing everything nearly perfectly to be accepted into being considered American. They complain about other immigrants and getting their citizenship in less honorable ways, “cheating the system” and not committing to the country. The “bad faith actors” are one of the key reasons why parents and many other immigrants are on the side of the ICE.
While I am not on the side of my parents, I think it would be stupid to act like these bad faith immigrants do not exist. And I don’t think both immigrant and native residents fully realize that the “purity” of American assimilation is more like a spectrum than a strict black and white. Any government departments need to handle the job determining which parts of the spectrum should stay or leave.
To expect an immigrant to be the perfect American citizen to be worthy of the country’s complete privileges assumes that native residents are born ideal and worth the privileges they automatically receive. The ideal American does not exist.
The immigrants that are unfaithful to the commitment of becoming a citizen believe that cheating the system can be justified as an act of rebellion against a colonialist superpower, when in reality it’s merely a shallow justification for engaging in legally dubious behavior. Being an immigrant means being exposed to those who cheat the system more frequently, resulting in hatred against foreigners much more than your average right-wing American-born citizen.
Most immigrants believe that they’re doing it the right way and those who do not act similarly should be deported, they engage in fascistic behavior against other foreigners (like participating in the ICE) as an act of familiarity. The actions our current president has committed are undoubtedly similar to the actions of dictators that they have escaped from, the corruption and human rights violations are accustomed in exchange for the promised certainty of a middle-class life.
It was stupid of me to assume that American-born citizens didn’t understand this. I was talking about why so many immigrants were hypocrites to my friend and he told me that he didn’t even realize this complexity. Although I don’t blame people who didn’t understand, I don’t think I even comprehend the full complexities of it either. But at the end of the day, I don’t want to put another human being to experience human rights violations, and I don’t support what the ICE is doing as they’re poorly trained under a clear power-trip.
To myself in the shoes of immigration officers and those who work for immigration in the United States, how are you supposed to weed out those who aren’t committed to fully naturalizing themselves? How are you supposed to determine motives and honorable behavior? How do you conclude the level of grudge one has towards the United States and the country’s role for intentional destabilization of the home countries one is trying to escape from?
This isn’t even taking into consideration the right-wing prioritization of creating a racialized caste system in the United States, as right-wing authoritarianism relies on a common and accessible enemy. Where the enemy needs to stay in a state of servitude for the majority and “desirable” population and no social mobility can be made for those under subjugation.