Raid Won’t Win ‘The Man’s’ Fight Against ‘Immigrant’

Modern-day America is increasingly becoming a sociological version of “The Friday Night Fights.” The street is the prize ring. We the public are the paying customers, tuning in to whatever battlers climb into the ring in a given week.

One week it’s Operation Rescue vs. the Abortion Clinic.

The next week, it’s Gay Rights vs. Whatever the Other Side Calls Itself.

The next week, it’s the Environmentalists vs. the Developers.

Last week in Orange, it was Suspected Illegal Immigrants vs. The Man.

As spectators to these fights, we’re conditioned to pick our favorites of the combatants and cheer them on.

On abortion and gay rights and the environment, the fights are fairly well-defined.

But on immigration, the picture tends to fuzz. And precisely because it’s so complicated and broad an issue, we have a tendency to try to reduce it to a simpler, more graspable question.

That’s a big mistake, and it’s why this week’s biggest waste of time is waiting for some definitive word on whether U.S. Border Patrol agents acted improperly last week in rounding up suspected illegal immigrants in Orange.

It’s a waste of time not because the answer doesn’t matter; it’s a waste of time because the question doesn’t matter.

Let’s face it: The Man has already scored what few points he could in the fight. Regardless of whether agents entered the apartment complex illegally or not, regardless of whether they used strong-arm tactics or not, they got the word out to potential illegal immigrants: “You come to Orange County, you might get hit.”

It’s hard to imagine what other message the city and federal government could have been trying to deliver because they both know that the raid won’t win the fight they’re waging against illegal immigration.

Instead, the raid looked like the ultimate act of a desperate, beaten fighter. It resembled the flailing of a punch-drunk fighter, carrying out the implorations of his manager, who’s over in the corner, yelling: “You’re losing the fight! Do something! Do anything!”

Wily and knowing he can go the distance, the Immigrant takes a few body blows, lays low for a round or two, but then returns fully revived in the next round.

That, fight fans, is why the specifics of the raid are largely irrelevant. The charges and countercharges make for juicy post-fight press conferences, but they only ensure that there will be a rematch. What we ought to be striving for is an end to the bludgeoning.

But how to do it?

As with all prizefights, if there’s no audience for the fight, there’s no fight. The task, it seems to me, is to convince the public that these two sides shouldn’t be fighting.

We know that thousands of immigrants are pouring into California and Orange County. Our basic American instinct (traditional values, remember) is to want people to be able to better themselves.

As long as the immigrants are working, no one seems to mind. What bothers people, judging from the calls and letters I receive, is looking out their window and seeing the house next door suddenly accommodating 20 people.

It’s politically correct to condemn these homeowners for decrying such a situation. After all, the Statue of Liberty and huddled masses and all that. But I think it’s a bunch of hypocritical hooey. I can’t imagine greasing up the Welcome Wagon upon discovering 20 people suddenly crowded into the townhouse next door to mine, either.

So, I don’t begrudge John Doe for getting upset.

But he’s picketing the wrong target.

His next-door neighbors aren’t the enemy.

They haven’t left their native country because they got that old travelin’ bug; they haven’t settled in Orange County because they like oranges; and they don’t ride five to the trunk of the car across the border and live 20 to a house because it’s cozier that way.

They’re here because work is here, from landscaping your condo’s garden to busing your table at a restaurant. In other cases, they’re here to see if their children can live an easier life than they have.

They aren’t the enemy. They’re doing what your ancestors did.

The enemy is a system that has broken down. Nationally, we pass immigration laws that we can’t enforce. Locally, we want cheap labor because it saves business costs but then don’t think about whether that cheap labor can find even minimum standard housing.

Instead of fixing those problems, we attack the inevitable and unwitting benefactors of the failed systems we created.

The most revealing element of the raid in Orange last week was the words of the apartment complex owner where the raid was conducted. He said he plans to sell the complex to new owners who plan to build condos.

Perfect.

That guarantees that instead of seeing 20 people to an apartment, a homeowner in some other neighborhood now will see 25.

And then the rest of us will watch as he puts out a frantic call to the Border Patrol to come resume the fight.