Local opinion: Tucson Dreamer’s arrest raises concerns about immigration enforcement

No sooner has one governmental injustice been undone than another replaces it.

Federal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia were dismissed on May 22. He was illegally deported last year, returned under court order, then hit with human trafficking charges, which a federal judge in Tennessee dropped, citing a top-ranking Justice Department official’s “vindictive motive.”

Replacing his case is a pulled-from-thin-air case against Tucsonan Karla Toledo, arrested May 18 after federal hoodlums pushed down her front door and threatened to charge her with assaulting an officer. She was freed on $1,500 bond days later.

Toledo’s and Abrego Garcia’s cases are among thousands of unjust, unwarranted and unconstitutional actions under a relentless, amoral effort to purge immigrants of color. (The week of Toledo’s arrest, the president gave refugee status to 10,000 more white descendants of South African colonizers.)

When officers came to her house, Toledo insisted on seeing a judicial warrant, which is her Fourth Amendment right. They showed no warrant and instead arrested her.

Her case and those of other immigrants raise two issues that need vetting in civic, political and judicial circles for their legal shortcomings and amorality.

First, we must question the militarized approach of immigration officers. Federal “police” — what it said on vests the men who arrested Toledo were wearing — are carrying out their duties aggressively, often violently, and heavily armed, despite there being no perceived threats to them.

Law-and-order politicians — talking to you, Republicans — must oppose the conduct of these officers, who in many cases are nothing more than members of government street gangs. Politicians also must stand against the president, whose cowardice is manifest in his bullying.

Toledo’s legal status and that of thousands like her is the second issue we the people need to raise. Toledo is a Dreamer, registered under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, having been brought to the United States when she was 1-year-old.

Hours after her arrest, federal officials said she breached DACA’s terms. Not so fast, she and her lawyer said, bearing paperwork proving there was no violation.

Toledo and more than 500,000 others brought here as children have DACA status. Another 400,000 are in limbo under the administration’s freeze of the program that defers their deportation.

Despite the president having said he wanted to see DACA recipients stay in the country, many have been arrested and deported; numerous others, at the urging of a government official, have self-deported.

To understand the utter wrongfulness of these actions, imagine two scenarios.

In one, a man walks into a Tucson store with his 4-year-old daughter, selects a $50 electric toothbrush, tucks it inside the girl’s jacket, and walks out with her hand in hand.

A security guard stops them, asks what’s in the girl’s jacket and finds the toothbrush. Should the 4-year-old be arrested and jailed? No, because she lacks volition — free will.

Second scenario: A man brings his 4-year-old daughter across the U.S.-Mexican border, seeking safety for her and work for himself. For having crossed the border with her father, should she be arrested and deported? No, because at age 4, she lacks volition, as did Toledo at age 1 and millions of others brought to our country as children.

Polls show most Americans want DACA recipients to eventually earn citizenship. Mercy abounds in that response, as opposed to the administration’s thuggishness.

Polls also show most Americans disapprove of the president’s immigration policies. That’s no surprise, because when we see his fear-based racism, our only moral choices are voicing opposition and taking civic, political and judicial action.