Bad Deportment

I saw an interesting story yesterday which reports on a study that shows that Immigration and Customs Control (ICE) has developed the bad habit of detaining and deporting American citizens. Lots of them — hundreds per year. Once you're in the ICE system, your legal rights drop to about zero, and if the government decides it doesn't particularly care about your citizen status, there are few recourses. End result — enjoy your free trip to Mexico.

Or Russia. In one case, ICE came within an inch of deporting a small-town drifter who doesn't speak a word of Russian, all because he once told local authorities after an arrest that he was a Russian army officer who got to America by jumping off a submarine and swimming to shore. Those same authorities confirmed his citizenship, but ICE didn't care. They held him for weeks. And he only avoided deportation because his sister refused to give up, and even contacted her Senator's office to get help with his case.

Asked how things like his can happen, an ICE spokesperson said, "The burden of proof is on the individual to show they're legally entitled to be here." Kind of hard to do when you're not provided with a lawyer, and held in detention until the case is resolved. "We have to careful we don't release the wrong person," said another spokesperson. That's exactly backwards: you have to be careful you don't detain and deport the wrong person. You're never going to eliminate error from the system, but ICE's attitude and approach guarantees a lot more bogus detentions and deportations will happen.

Dumb Talk Express

From today's New York Times:

In the interview, Mr. McCain said, referring to tax cuts, "Whether they actually pay for themselves dollar for dollar, obviously there are differences in opinion."

Very true, in the sense that serious economists and policy experts all say no, while those who know that it is political suicide in the modern GOP to break with this particular piece of baseless dogma all say yes.

I was a little surprised yesterday when the Times endorsed McCain in the Republican primary, based largely on his supposed steadfastness compared to Romney and Giuliani. But I can't think of one major issue — tax cuts, the war, immigration, etc. — where McCain hasn't changed his mind to conveniently mirror the positions held by the GOP base. That he manages to get away with it proves him to be an able politician, but that doesn't change the fact that he's no less of a panderer than any of his rivals.