One day after the current President of the United States stripped more than 200,000 migrants from El Salvador of their protected status, the leaders of the Democrats in the Senate and the House of Representatives sat down with the current President to discuss immigration “reform.”

One day before the current administration authorized ICE police raids on about one hundred 7-Eleven convenience stores in order to apprehend, intimidate, and terrorize migrants working for minimum wages, the leaders of the Democrats in the Senate and the House sat down with the current President to discuss immigration reform.

And there we have the significance of the Democrats, and the meaning of “reform.” The Democrats pretend to insist on legal protections for migrants already “in-country” while the legal protections are repealed, rolled-back, ignored. “Reform” means pretending to discuss legal protections while the police conduct raids and make arrests.

Said Tom Homan, deputy director US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “Today’s actions send a strong message to US businesses that hire and employ an illegal workforce: ICE will enforce the laws and if you’re breaking the law, you will be held accountable.”

That’s what he said, all right. But that’s not exactly how the raids played out. Twenty-one employees of the various 7-Eleven stores raided were arrested for “suspicion” of being illegal aliens. No charges or arrests were made against any of the owners of the 7-Eleven stores where the “suspected” “illegals” were employed.

With language and action like that, Homan represents the perfect synthesis of Democrat and Republican, a fusion candidate if ever there was one.

And why shouldn’t the Democrats sit down and politely discuss “reforms” with the Raider-in-Chief. Hadn’t the previous President, one of their own, the sainted Saint Barry of Obama, authorize his very own raids on 7-Elevens back in 2013? Sure he had.

The Democrats want nothing more than to play act the “good cop” to the Republicans “bad cop.” We know what the difference is between the good cop and the bad cop. The bad cop handcuffs you and then punches you in the face. The good cop says “not so hard. It will show.”

The ICE raids, the stripping of protected status from those fleeing earthquakes, hurricanes, and civil wars (and civil wars, both those that are acute and appear as “military” conflicts, and those that are attenuated and appear as “economic” conflicts, are the forces behind massive movements of peoples) are mechanisms simply for attacking the most vulnerable sections of the working class. These attacks are different in means, but not in purpose, than the attacks on workers organizations, than the repeal of regulations designed to protect worker health and safety both on and off the “shop floor.”

We say no cops, no raids, no arrests of workers, no deportations. And no “reforms.”

January 13, 2018