Four years ago today, America did something shocking—we decided not to be terrible for once. Wild, right? On February 6, 2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken put a stop to some of the cruelest immigration policies we had going. You remember those agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras? The ones where we basically shoved asylum seekers back into the very countries they were running from, like some twisted game of “return to sender” but with actual human lives at stake? Yeah, those got shut down. And for a brief, shining moment, it looked like the U.S. might actually act like the land of the free instead of the land of “not my problem, buddy.”
Fast forward to today—surprise! We’re back on our B.S. ICE is rolling through towns like an ‘80s action villain, rounding people up like they’re shoplifters instead of families just trying to survive. New York alone has seen over 100 arrests in the past week. Kids are afraid to go to school. Parents are being taken away at work. And somehow, we’re still pretending this is normal.
Here’s the thing—this isn’t about enforcing the law; it’s about optics. One minute, we’re canceling cruel policies, and the next, we’re starring in the dystopian reboot of Papers, Please: The Real-Life Horror Edition. I mean, what’s next? A national game of hide-and-seek where the loser gets deported? At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone suggested it.
And let’s talk about these ICE raids for a second. They’re not just targeting criminals—oh no. They’re going after anyone who doesn’t have the right papers. You ever try to find your birth certificate in under five minutes? Good luck. If ICE came for me, I’d probably just start crying and handing them my Costco card.
But seriously, here’s the real question: What kind of country do we want to be? The one that sends desperate people back into danger just because we can? Or the one that remembers that literally all of us came from somewhere else at some point? The Statue of Liberty wasn’t holding up a giant middle finger, but at this rate, maybe she should be.
So, happy anniversary, America. Four years ago, we chose compassion. Today? We’re choosing chaos. I’d say we should do better, but let’s be real—we should already be better.
