A letter to a bastard journalist

The Yakima County Jail is soon to be the first in Washington State to use the FBI federal database to check the immigration status of people as they are brought in. This is just one jail of 1200 in 41 states using this system. This system is one more addition to the already rampant war on undocumented people. This particular method alone is accredited, by ICE, to the removal of as many as 72,000 undocumented people.

While reading the article attached below, written by Mark Morey of the Yakima Herald-Republic, I couldn’t help but be enraged. Mr. Morey refers to undocumented people as: “those people,” “criminal aliens,” and “violators that pose a risk to public safety.” He presents the usage of the new database in the Yakima County Jail without any critique or question, but with praise—conveniently forgetting that the “criminal aliens” he is referring to are people. People who have come to this country, quite often, out of financial necessity.

He writes:

“The program is intended to focus on those violators that pose a risk to public safety, such as violent criminals, drunken drivers and others who appear to be trying to defraud the immigration system.”

I began to wonder: how is it that economic refugees—simply because they are not citizens—are more threatening to “society” than the rest of us? How is it that people,  just trying to make it day-by-day like the majority of us, are threatening? If you are unable to answer these puzzling questions it is because Morey’s sentiments don’t. make. sense.

Let’s tap into reality for a second. This database exists to speed up the process of putting thousands of people into the Northwest Detention Center. What is the NWDC? Oh yeah—a private, for-profit, immigration prison. A prison that pulls in around $113,400,000 annually to the detriment of people’s lives. This prison, that can house up 1575 people, has investors who want this business to do well. Put bluntly: immigration policies, immigration detention and deportation are about $$.

So, Mr. Mark Morey, when you and the rest of the media use such language as: criminal alien, illegal alien, illegal immigrant, and “violators that pose a risk to public safety,” when referring to mothers, fathers, grandparents, and children, you perpetuate a cycle of ignorance. Allegedly, as a journalist, you are not only to present fact you are to encourage critical thought. But the media has never been good for that, now, have they? Instead, the large majority of people will read half-assed articles, such as the one below written by you, and take it at face value. So please, continue on with your lies, half-truths and aid in blissful ignorance. I and others will continue to point out your missteps.

With Disdain,

CYV

Pissed-off enough by Morey’s article that you feel a drive to write the Yakima Herald-Republic? Do it:

Address Letters:

To the editor
P.O. Box 9668
Yakima, WA 98909

Address E-Mail:
opinion@yakimaherald.com

Also—if you care to read the article in question, it is linked below:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014858806_apwaimmigrationdatabase.html?syndication=rss