LET US WALK GENTLY into a fire ant bed this morning and
talk about immigration.
Now let me assure you, I don’t mean to
stir things up.
This is, after all, a column written by a
judge. Nothing herein is meant to endorse or condemn any particular immigration
policy or proposals, including but not limited to building walls, granting
amnesty, creating guest-worker programs, deporting illegals,
granting or denying state and/or federal benefits, and all such matters
considered ejusdem generis. In fact, I decided some
time ago that the problem of illegal (OK, “undocumented”) immigration is, like
certain aspects of marriage, one of life’s unsolvables
that shouldn’t be discussed in polite company.
Then I returned to court the morning
after Labor Day to find our metaphoric mound had been built in my backyard. And
boy, was it huge. That weekend, Immigration and
Customs Enforcement officers came to Emanuel, Candler and surrounding counties
and detained several hundred Mexican nationals in this country without proper
papers. Many of them were employees of Crider Poultry in the tiny
The raids themselves have been widely
covered in the media, from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to CNN and
Univision. To summarize briefly, customs officers had information that many of
the workers at Crider were using false documents. They obtained the names and
home addresses of those workers and, beginning Labor Day weekend, conducted
raids over several days. According to media reports, more than 100 men
associated with Crider were detained for deportation. According to some of the
folks I’ve talked with who are involved in the immigrant community, up to 400
or more undocumented Mexican men were taken in the raids.
This fire ant nest is in my backyard
Now, what does that have to do with me?
Illegal immigration is a federal issue, right? Why should a juvenile court
judge be concerned?
The answer to those questions, I’ve
found, is that the immigration raids have had a substantial effect on our local
schools and our local social-service agencies. And those matters are my
bailiwick.
My friend Luis Machado, who works part
time with the Emanuel County Schools migrant education program, explains it
like this. Many of the men seized in the immigration raids have been here for
several years and have wives and children. In the Mexican culture, he says,
it’s typical for the men to work while the women stay home and raise the
children. So when the raids occurred, you had several hundred breadwinners
removed and sent to detention for deportation back to
Moreover, Machado says, when immigration
officials came knocking, the fearful families went into hiding. Some went for
days with little food or water. He tracked down the mother of a set of twins
who attend
The statistics back up Machado’s
anecdote. Neighboring
All but 18 have slowly trickled back into
the schools, he says. Duane and his school system colleagues are required to
educate those kids. I’m required to make sure they’re going to school, are safe, and are staying out of trouble. That’s a hard task
to accomplish when they’re hiding out or scattered.
After raids, thieves come
calling
Our state agencies try to help these
families within the limits of the law, but for the most part that task is
handled by churches and charities. Rey Morales, who
heads Hispanic outreach for the Savannah Diocese of the Catholic Church, has
helped with the church’s effort to bring in truckloads of food and supplies for
the women and children left behind. Many of these families are suffering
tremendously, he says. First came the immigration
agents. After that came the thieves who broke into their trailers and
apartments, taking the few possessions they had and the money they had
squirreled away under mattresses. The thieves counted on these families being
afraid to ask for help from the police, he says. And others are taking advantage
of these families, sometimes folks who should be their friends. Machado tells
me he witnessed an American woman of Mexican descent offer to “keep” the
newborn children of two young undocumented Mexican women and help the women
with bus fare back to
Morales and Machado say that many of
these families will get by as they’ve always done. Some will find their way
back to
Ripping out roots can be messy
I believe in enforcing the law. But I’m
often forced to recall the words of one of my favorite novelists, Michael
Malone, from a fiction work I read almost 20 years ago: “Time’s Witness.” I can
never remember the exact quote, but it goes something like this: The letter of
the law is pure. But the spirit of the law is as muddy as water with living
things growing in it. You can’t see what you’re pulling out, and in trying to
pull out one plant, you’re liable to rip out the roots of all the others, he
says.
Retired Augusta Catholic priest Edward
Frank says this problem arose thanks to “silent permission.” For so many years
we allowed illegal migrants to come here, to work and build families, to put
down roots. And now, as we attempt to “weed” those communities of those working
here illegally, it’s darn hard to do without disrupting a lot of lives. I hope
we can find some long-term solutions to our immigration dilemmas. If you have
any, please let those in charge know. In the meantime, does anybody know any
good remedies for fire ant bites?
Tom C. Rawlings is a juvenile court judge for the Middle Judicial District in
Sandersville. He has clerked at the Georgia Court of Appeals, worked as a civil
litigator at a