The ‘Trump Way’ of immigration crackdowns? Harassing 7-Eleven stores

Perhaps we shouldn’t be the least bit surprised that federal Immigration officials conducted on Wednesday what they’re billing as a major initiative in their effort to find non-U.S. citizens working in this country who don’t have the legitimate permits to do so.

ICE raids on dozens of 7-Elevens natiionwide

They’re raiding 7-Eleven convenience stores.

WHICH SOUNDS LIKE a notion that ought to be a joke; a bad punchline; something along the lines of a third-rate “The Simpsons” episode in which long-time Kwik-E-Mart operator Apu Nahasapeemapetilon gets deported.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials actually did raid some 100 7-Eleven convenience stores on Wednesday – of which 5 were in Chicago. The point was that immigration officials went into each joint, disrupted the sale of Slurpees and other junk food, and went out of their way to verify that every single person working in that particular store actually had the proper work permits required of non-U.S. citizens.

Officials made a point of saying they weren’t looking to do large-scale arrests on Wednesday, but that fines or criminal charges could arise against people who couldn’t show the proper papers.

The Associated Press reported that ICE officials described Wednesday’s activity as “the first of many” and “a harbinger of what’s to come” as ideologue-minded people seek some sort of act implying that we’re kicking foreigners out of jobs and trying to make their lives here so uncomfortable that they’ll want to leave this country.

PERSONALLY, I FIND the whole concept more laughable than anything else. It borders on harassment. It is something that if we think about it too much, it ought to make us ashamed of ourselves.

So, of course, the ideologues prefer not to think about it too much!

A part of me wonders if Wednesday’s actions were an off-the-cuff reaction to the immigration policy rhetoric of Tuesday.

President Donald Trump engaged in his cheap-talk of a “bill of love” to create a wall along the U.S./Mexico border, which I’m sure he intended to be tough talk to appease the more narrow-minded of our society who can’t handle the presence of anyone who isn’t exactly like themselves.

Is our society safer as a result?

BUT TUESDAY ENDED with a federal judge in San Francisco striking down the effort last year by Trump to erase the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals people. The ones that Trump, out of the kindness of his heart (heavy sarcasm most definitely intended) would not move forward with deporting until March.

So after being told his initiative to get rid of DACA is full of caca, federal officials respond by doing third-rate crackdowns meant to make it seem they’re protecting our nation from Indian nationals who are working the convenience stores of our society.

The ones providing the over-priced and over-taxed cigarettes that some of us seem to demand in our lives. Seriously, whenever I stop in a convenience store to pick up a newspaper or an occasional can of Coca-Cola, it seems all the people ahead of me in line are getting their “smokes” – and invariably complaining about the ridiculous prices charged these days.

Are these jobs ringing up a convenience store cash register the ones that “foreigners” are stealing from “real Americans?”

OR WAS THIS all about giving Trump types a sense of “victory” on the issue of immigration, rather than have them focus on how Trump’s efforts to eradicate the Barack Obama-era DACA policy (meant to allow young people making a contribution to society to remain in this country) have been thwarted, and it most likely that the inability of Congress to figure out how to resolve the issue long-term means nothing will change for the foreseeable future.

How many bad Apu imitations were done Wednesday?

Which makes much of the immigration-related rhetoric cheap and like something out of a “The Simpsons” episode.

Then again, even The Simpsons managed to find a little bit of sense when addressing the issue. For let’s not forget that when Apu finally broke down and took the citizenship test, his knowledge of our nation wound up being better than that of the long-time natives of the cartoon-land of Springfield.

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EXTRA: “Quinnochio” against “Mr. Burns?” The electorate is the loser

It’s usually around July or August in a general election campaign cycle when the truly trivial stuff comes out.

Do you feel enlightened?

Yet in an example of just how nasty the Illinois gubernatorial campaign is going to dive, it’s late March and we’re already sinking to the silly stunts – particularly those of mascots whose purpose is to mock the opposition.

FOR THE RECORD, it was the gubernatorial campaign of Bruce Rauner that sank first – giving us Quinnochio, a goofy-looking clod who is supposed to make us think of Gov. Pat Quinn as someone incapable of telling us the truth.

Quinnochio made his first appearance Thursday outside a Quinn government (not campaign) appearance at Carl von Linne Elementary School in Chicago to talk about how he wants to reform public education funding.

Personally, I think the idea of a mascot like this trivializes Rauner more than it harms Quinn – just as much as Quinn made himself look silly with that Internet-only ad that appeared recently comparing Rauner to “The Simpsons” Mr. Burns character. “Burns” against “Quinnochio” come Nov. 4? We’re going to get a heck of a headache in coming months!

 

It does make me wonder about the copyright laws, and whether the "Pinocchio" character is old enough to clear the time period in which the Disney company can claim a violation of their intellectual property in the same way that Fox made a claim against Quinn being able to use "Mr. Burns."


Chickens should be fried, not out campaigning

SUCH MASCOTS MAY have been around longer, but the first campaign mascot I recall was that ridiculous chicken that used to follow President George Bush (the elder) around and contend that he was afraid to debate Democratic challenger Bill Clinton. Did that really do a thing to inform the electorate?

I wish we’d have the kind of campaign in Illinois where Rauner wouldn’t wish to sink down to Quinn’s level of triviality. Then again, this is Illinois, so I should know better!

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Will Mr. Burns “release the hounds” on Pat Quinn? Minimum wage lingers on

My first thought to learning that Gov. Pat Quinn tried bashing all four of the major Republican candidates who want to take his post from him was to wonder if a rush of Dobermans would now come charging at him and tear his body to shreds.

BURNS: Should he be Ill. gov?

After all, Quinn issued a statement (on his campaign letterhead, not his official gubernatorial stationery) saying that the GOP candidates for governor, “have all the compassion of C. Montgomery Burns.”

I CAN’T ENVISION the “Mr. Burns” character from “The Simpsons” (a television program that has been around for nearly half my life, even though I can’t remember the last time I watched a new episode) putting up with any guff from a mere peon like Pat Quinn.

“Release the hounds!!!!!!!” Let them deal with the impudent excuse for a governor that we have.

Now I realize that Burns and his nuclear power plant that probably violates every single environmental law in existence (how else to explain the three-eyed fish of old) is a fictional character.

Although somehow, I suspect the gubernatorial candidates are going to wish they could use such a tactic against Quinn – who’s trying to make sure that the whole fiasco related to the minimum wage lingers around for awhile.

IF IT FADES away, Quinn loses what could be his weapon that could inspire voters to think that they approve less of the Republican challengers than they do him.

For the record, Quinn wants an increase in the minimum wage for Illinois to $10 – which probably would be phased in over a few years.

Candidate Bruce Rauner created a whirlwind when he suggested that the minimum wage could actually be decreased – for the benefit of businesses in Illinois. The stink he stirred up was so intense that he’s now backtracking (and also trying to claim his thoughts were distorted).

QUINN: Devoured by the hounds, or the voters?

Other candidates aren’t ridiculous enough to say something so blunt – although they’re not about to back Quinn’s suggestion that low-level labor ought to get more money. They’re more interested in the corporate vote, which sees this as an attack on their financial bottom line.

WHICH IS USUALLY key to determining what kind of financial bonus they get for their work. Non-profitable companies don’t pay out such perks.

It’s also interesting to see the “debate,” of sorts, that has arisen, as Rauner wrote a commentary on the minimum wage issue that hints at letting such salaries increase – under certain circumstances.

“By far, the best ways to raise wages are to have a booming economy with companies competing to hire workers, and have great schools and vocational training that provide skills people need to move up the economic ladder,” Rauner wrote.

While Quinn, after making his “Simpsons” allusion, said he thinks the increase is the way to start toward a booming economy, saying, “Everyday people don’t admire the extra money they earn in the bank; they spend it in the local community, creating more jobs.”

IT’S ALL TRULY a matter of just which set of voters do the candidates want to appeal to.

Rauner wants to get the votes of the bosses who run companies, while Quinn wants their employees. Although Rauner seems to think that maybe if those employees are suffering a bit, they’ll blame Quinn and vote for him instead.

SMITHERS: Would he be Lt. Gov?

In all, it’s a rhetorical exchange notable only because we don’t get all that many “Simpsons” references in an election cycle. Although I wonder if the most-offended person in all of this is Peter Jones.

He’s the Franklin Park resident who also is seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination who wasn’t even included in Quinn’s attack. Does that make him the equivalent of Burns’ sycophant “Smithers?”

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Sheriff tactic so cartoonish it's scary

What does it say about the intelligence quotient of our society at large when the half-wit police tactics of “The Simpsons” work so well in the daily life of the Second City?

When I learned Sunday that Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart managed to get a few dozen people with outstanding warrants for their arrests by staging a phony tax rebate, all I could think of was that Dart is now the equivalent of Chief Clancy Wiggum, and that we now have a few real-life Homer Simpsons walking about.

FANS OF “THE Simpsons” television program remember the episode from several years ago that started off with the mythical Springfield P.D. sending out letters promising a “free boat” to everybody who showed up at the police station at a certain time.

Homer: Up and away in my beautiful, my beautiful motorboat! Da da da da!
Bart: But we didn’t enter any police raffle.
Homer: That doesn’t matter. The important thing is we won.

It turns out that the people who received the letters were the ones who had outstanding warrants (Homer had 235 unpaid parking tickets), and police arrested every single person who showed up – before beating each of them, in the words of Chief Wiggum, “to the full extent of the law.”

Now I am not aware of any evidence that the Cook County Sheriff’s police administered similar beatings in recent weeks. But otherwise, the television tactic was applied to real life.

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE newspaper reported that Dart’s staff coordinated a ruse by which they rented out office space, then sent letters to people with warrants for crimes ranging from automobile moving violations to unpaid child support.

Those letters told people they were eligible for a check providing them with an additional income tax rebate. As if the one check they may have received earlier this year (if they bothered to file an income tax return with the IRS) wasn’t sufficient, they were given the hope of thinking they were someone special who was entitled to more.

Of course, I can’t help but wonder if the fact that federal officials are seriously considering giving second rebate checks of a few hundred dollars to certain taxpayers may have confused some of these individuals into thinking that action was being taken.

But unlike the first rebate check where one merely had to file their tax return, then have the check mailed directly to their home (or direct deposited into their bank account, if they so chose), this “letter” told people they had to show up at a specific address to collect their additional rebate check.

ABOUT 100 PEOPLE either showed up at the office or made calls to telephone numbers provided in the letter inquiring about the check. In all, 66 of those people were arrested, either at the office or at their home addresses which police learned of through the sting.

Now some people could be impressed with those totals. After all, that’s 66 people now in the criminal justice system who were not there just a few weeks ago.

But the sheriff’s police, according to the Tribune, actually sent about 5,000 letters to people with outstanding warrants. Of those, just over 1 percent actually wound up being arrested.

When viewed in that context, “Operation Rebate and Switch” was a flop. Not that the sheriff’s police are complaining.

SHERIFF DART WENT so far Sunday as to hold a press conference outside the storefront that was used in the scam so he could boast of his “accomplishment” for the deadly-dull Sunday television newscasts and Monday morning newspapers.

In his stunt to brag about his office’s stunt, Dart said it was the “greed” of those with arrest warrants that caused them to overcome any skepticism they might have had about receiving an unsolicited letter promising them money.

Dart also liked to brag about the fact that many of those who showed up at the “office” were driving on invalid licenses, which gave police the legal authority to impound their cars – requiring the motorists to either pay huge fees to get their cars back or risk losing them at auction.

In all, those fees generated about $6,000, which he said covered about three-quarters of the cost of maintaining a phony accountant’s office for people to collect non-existent checks.

OF COURSE, THE only way a stunt like this works in the real world is if one is dealing with people who aren’t too bright to begin with.

At least one person still expected to get a tax rebate check even after being told he was under arrest. The Tribune reported that Dart said the person wanted to know if he could “sign over” his rebate check to the county to cover the cost of posting bail.

That’s a case of reality impersonating fiction. At the very least, that man ought to be nicknamed “Homer,” as the patriarch of the cartoon clan kept persistently asking for his motorboat, even as the Springfield P.D. did their best impersonation of the Chicago police treatment of protesters outside the ’68 Democratic convention.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: More than five dozen people in the Chicago area now face criminal charges (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-080817-sting-rebate,0,6647828.story) after being caught in a sting operation where they thought they were getting a second tax rebate check.

The Cook County Jail has a few dozen more inmates due to the sheriff’s police new (http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=47944@wbbm.dayport.com&hbx.hra=Chicago-LAN&hbx.cmp.c1=video+91001158&hbx.cmp.c3=641&hbx.cmp.c2=160+x+600+91001158&hbx.cmp=AFC-Chi) sting.

“The Simpsons” television program has managed to survive for nearly two decades on the air (http://www.tv.com/the-simpsons/lisa-the-skeptic/episode/1471/trivia.html) because, at times, it eerily mirrors real life.