Beyond barbarism

One way to identify a primitive society is by its tendency to judge all issues -- political and ethical -- in terms of black and white. Hence, the concept of "taboo" or "kapu," a Polynesian word that also applies to the codes of most early societies. Think, for example, of the lengthy list of absolute prohibitions set forth in the Book of Leviticus.

But religious taboos are merely one aspect -- and not that important an aspect -- of what we might call Manichean thought processes. In 18th century England, theft of a shilling or more was a felony, and whether the judge liked it or not, there was only one penalty for felonies -- hanging. Many a ten-year-old pickpocket found himself strangling at the end of a rope. For whatever cultural or psychological reasons, Republicans even today seem to have a similar -- if less gruesome -- mindset, and a strong aversion to viewing political issues as presenting varying shades of gray. ("No new taxes, whatever the consequences," for example.)

President Obama announced today that he is directing Homeland Security to focus its attention on deporting those illegal immigrants with criminal records who pose a danger to national security or public safety, and to ease up on others -- students and college graduates, especially, who were brought illegally as children to this country. Fox News headlined the President's announcement: "GOP: Obama Giving Free Pass to Illegal Immigrants." Republicans denounced the action as "backdoor amnesty"; the Republican governor of Arizona said Obama was enacting the so-called Dream Act "by executive fiat."¹

I still remember the case of Rigoberto Padilla. Padilla was brought here illegally from Mexico by his parents when he was six years old. He had lived in Illinois, never returning to Mexico even for a visit. He graduated from high school with a 3.5 GPA, and, while working full time, was a full time honors student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was also president of a Latino student organization. He planned to attend law school and become an attorney. He was stopped for a minor traffic offense, his immigration status was discovered, and he was given four months to return voluntarily to Mexico -- a country he knew nothing about -- or be deported.²

"He is now going to pay for the sins of his parents, really, and we cannot be making special exceptions for him," said a right-wing activist opposing illegal immigration.

Simple question of black or white.

"No Amnesty" has been the mantra of right-wing opponents to any easing of the immigration laws. Deport them all, they demand, every one of the millions of undocumented immigrants, no matter how long they have been here, no matter how valuable their lives have been to their communities. Their presence somehow is an affront to those of us who, despite having spent our lives sitting slack-jawed before our TV sets, are nevertheless more deserving of this country's amenities, because we happen to have been born here.

Fortunately, the legal system recognizes the concept of  "prosecutorial discretion" -- a concept that reflects the realization that we will never have enough prosecutors or judges to charge and convict every offender against every law on the books. The concept also recognizes that not every technical statutory violation should be prosecuted, even if the resources to do so were available -- in too many cases, the damage to the offender would far outweigh any advantage to the community.

President Obama's guidelines to Homeland Security direct a sensible and compassionate exercise of such prosecutorial discretion.

The ability to weigh offenses on a case by case basis -- both by the prosecutor in deciding whether to charge the offense, and by the courts in determining the proper penalty upon conviction -- reflects our development from a rigid, primitive society to a humane and more reflective community. In other words, our progress beyond barbarism to a tenous status of civilization.

We don't automatically stone wizards, nowadays. (Lev. 20:27) We first ask for more details, and see if there aren't better ways to resolve the problem.

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Photo: Rigoberto Padilla at press conference

¹Interestingly enough, however, over 64 percent of Fox News readers (as of 8-19-11 at 11 a.m. PDT) voted approval for emphasizing deportation of criminals rather than of illegal immigrants in general.

As of 2:00 p.m., over 69 percent were favoring the President's position. And Fox had dropped the entire story out of headline treatment.

²At the last minute, after a public outcry, his deportation was deferred for at least one year.