The List

As some of you may know an anonymous letter was sent out to various state leaders and Departments over the last few days including a list of 1300 supposed undocumented immigrants. To me The List represents everything wrong with the immigration debate.

It smacks of the infamous McCarthy 'Black List'- those who were suspected Communists. The link above highlights the state's review of how The List was obtained. The fact that it was submitted anonymously is not only cowardly but (to use the word again) smacks of secret police tactics.

I'm always reluctant to publicly refer to my church experience in Romania, but one thing I came back with was a determination to never let what happened there during Ceausescu's reign to ever happen here. Neighbors spying on neighbors. People living in fear of being awakened in the middle of the night and never being heard from again. Persecuted, accused, tortured, killed. Often with little evidence other than what a terrified neighbor thought they heard or saw.

What if your name is on the list? What if you simply share the same name as someone on The List? Your neighbors, with (apparently) access to state databases, the compilers of The List presume you are guilty. Should your workplace be raided? Should you be dragged in front of law enforcement, investigators, or committees? It's happened before. And we don't have to look to examples from the former Eastern Block, but our own history and the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s.

One of my favorite Congressional hearing exchanges of all time occurred on June 9th 1954 between the head counsel for the US Army Joseph Welch and Senator Joseph McCarthy (both pictured above). Take a moment and watch it here. It was the 30th day of the infamous McCarthy hearings. Mr. Welch was defending a young Army lawyer who's only apparent act of treason was that he had joined a lawyers guild. It was Mr. Welch who publicly stood up to Senator McCarthy with his famous line "Have you no sense of decency sir?"

Learn more about this unsung American hero and a short transcript of the exchange here.

When I first heard about The List I was reminded of Mr. Welch's statement. To those who thought it was a good idea to take the law into their own hands, publish names, addresses, due dates of pregnant mothers in some cases, phone numbers, social security numbers, I would ask them Have you no sense of decency sir? Who are you to play judge and jury?

This is America where you are considered innocent until proven guilty.

Update: See Peg McEntee's article "List a Dispicable sign McCarthyism could happen here. Similar arguments but better presented by Peg.