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It Seems That I've Been Playing Your Game Too Long
And it seems the game I've played has made you strong
mister mix
March 23, 2025
Sen Ruben Gallego’s (D-AZ) interview with the Arizona Daily Star is getting some attention on BlueSky because of his caution that Democrats shouldn’t get “trapped” on immigration. Here’s the full context:
Q. Is there anything the Democrats can or should do to ensure that innocent people aren’t being sent there [El Salvador or Gitmo] ? What’s the game plan to respond to this current reality?
A. I honestly don’t know if there is much of anything we can do. I think this is now a matter for the courts. But I do think it’s important for us to highlight where we know that there are real abuses that we can make sure that we’re not falling into the trap. Look, what Donald Trump did was set up a trap for Democrats to run into because, of the 500 they sent there, I’m sure 200 of them are actually hard-core criminals. Now, are we going to go run to the podium and defend and try to get those people back? No, absolutely not. What we should be highlighting are those mothers that have children being deported arbitrarily without any due process. We should be talking about the local businessman who got picked up and got their legal permanent residency rejected. Where possible, and this is what I was hoping to do by working in the CR (continuing resolution on the federal budget), we should also figure out how we can direct the budget, ensure they’re only going and targeting the worst of the worst, as well as the people that are essentially the people that have already finished their deportation processes and appeals, instead of giving them (carte blanche) to just go after whoever they want.
In the interview, Gallego defends his vote for the Laken Riley Act, which mandates federal detention of undocumented immigrants who are accused (not convicted or formally charged) of a crime, including minor crimes like shoplifting. Gallego says that the Laken Riley Act was needed because some immigrants are criminals and we need to keep our communities safe from them. He’s also clearly disappointed that Schumer didn’t leverage the CR to get some concessions from the Trump Administration (he says that Schumer has promised that this Fall’s budget fight will be different. Sure, Jan.)
I’ll grant that we need to deport lawbreaking undocumented immigrants, but Trump’s “trap” isn’t one if you really believe in due process, as Gallego says he does. You’re not “trapped” if you say that all 500 people who were denied due process should be jailed in the US and have their cases adjudicated prior to deportation. You’re not “trapped” if you say that this man’s treatment at the El Salvadoran gulag is wrong, even if the person being mistreated isn’t a mother:
The intake began with slaps. One young man sobbed when a guard pushed him to the floor. He said, “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a barber.” I believed him. But maybe it’s only because he didn’t look like what I had expected—he wasn’t a tattooed monster.
The men were pulled from the buses so fast the guards couldn’t keep pace. Chained at their ankles and wrists, they stumbled and fell, some guards falling to the ground with them. With each fall came a kick, a slap, a shove. The guards grabbed necks and pushed bodies into the sides of the buses as they forced the detainees forward. There was no blood, but the violence had rhythm, like a theater of fear.
Inside the intake room, a sea of trustees descended on the men with electric shavers, stripping heads of hair with haste. The guy who claimed to be a barber began to whimper, folding his hands in prayer as his hair fell. He was slapped. The man asked for his mother, then buried his face in his chained hands and cried as he was slapped again.
The Laken Riley Act’s lack of clear due process was the beginning of a slippery slope where the middle of the slope is rounding up and shipping a group of perhaps-criminals and perhaps-innocents overseas to be mistreated for Fox News cameras. The bottom of the slope is the same treatment for “undesirables” who are US citizens.
The “trap” that Gallego sees is the “trap” of not being in lockstep with Republicans on immigration. This form of a “trap” is one where Democrats locked themselves in a room and threw away a key. If we really want to have “secure borders” and we really don’t want undocumented immigrants working in the US, at least part of the solution is to cut off the demand. Start raiding farms and factories, and arrest those who employ the undocumented. At least start focusing the conversation on the reality of immigration in America — immigrants do the hard work that citizens don’t want to do — rather than the fantasy world of criminal immigrants lurking in our neighborhoods. (Immigrants commit fewer crimes than citizens.)
It’s pretty damn telling that the techbros who are holding fundraisers for Gallego have a carve-out on immigration in the form of H1-B visas. It would be a great talking point to ask why one industry can employ immigrants legally, but others can’t. But that would upset some donors, which is another example of how Democrats have trapped themselves by being reliant on money from billionaires.
If it’s a “trap” to say that the Republican position on immigration is a straw house on a bullshit foundation, let’s at least try it and find out how “trapped” we get. My guess is that, in addition to money, Gallego and others are swayed by polling which consistently shows that people generally favor deportation of immigrants, when asked the question without context. But if you dig a little deeper, there’s less support for the mechanics of deportation, including cutting funds for cities that don’t help deportation, and suspending asylum applications.
This is an opportunity for Democrats to stake out a position and defend it, or we can just sit around and parrot Republican talking points.
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