ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- Some say politics is poetry. But much of it is metaphor.

As a disturbing symbol of the extreme disrespect being shown Latinos in California, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif. -- a mild-mannered Mexican American MIT-trained engineer -- was recently manhandled, thrown to the ground and handcuffed by members of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem's protection detail.

Noem had gone to Los Angeles to survey the wreckage of President Donald Trump's war on what many Americans see the bluest city in the bluest state in the Republic.

Meanwhile, Trump was declaring that his administration would carry out similar immigration raids in other Democratic cities. Look out, Chicago, New York, Dallas, Phoenix and others. A storm is coming.

At a news conference, Noem proclaimed that the devilish folks at Immigration and Customs Enforcement would remain in the City of Angels indefinitely.

"We are not going away," Noem said. "We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and this mayor have placed on this country."

Listen to that language. So, it turns out, the Trump administration really has two objectives for invading Los Angeles.

One goal is to scoop up -- without warrants, probable cause or due process -- as many Mexicans as possible so it can meet its own arbitrary daily quota of 3,000 removals. The hunting is good in Los Angeles, so the hunters intend to stay.

The other goal is to "liberate" Los Angeles from "socialist... leadership." So this bunch doesn't believe in nation-building anywhere around the globe -- except for Los Angeles? It isn't pushing for regime change in Iran, China or Russia, but the Democrats who run LA have to go?

Welcome to Wonderland, folks.

You don't have to support an "open border" or think we should "abolish ICE" to be enraged. You need only understand that none of this is normal, fair or good for society.

Like what happened to Padilla. The lawmaker's alleged crime was "intent to commit democracy." During the reign of the Mad King, that can get you shipped off to a secret prison in El Salvador. Acting as a representative of the legislative branch -- which the Founding Fathers designed as a co-equal branch of government tasked with reigning in the executive branch -- Padilla tried to ask Noem a question about the sloppiness of the administration's immigration enforcement policy.

That's when the senator was grabbed. A member of Padilla's senate staff videotaped the whole thing. At one point, a member of the security detail ordered the staffer to stop filming. To anyone on Team Trump, accountability is just another big word that Noem -- who recently failed a quiz on habeas corpus -- can't define.

Of course, the federal government has the right to deport undocumented immigrants. But, in this nation of laws, it's not just immigrants who have to follow the law. In the process of deporting people, there are still rules to be followed and norms to be adhered to.

In his desperation to make America white again by purging the brown people, Trump is breaking those rules and violating the norms.

For instance, ICE agents must steer clear of schools, hospitals, churches and courthouses. They shouldn't arrest people who play by the rules and check in with immigration officials. They shouldn't use IRS data to locate the home addresses of undocumented immigrants who we've been told for decades don't pay taxes -- because it turns out some of them actually do. They shouldn't go door to door and ask residents to produce passports or birth certificates, as some Angelenos insist is happening. And they certainly should not, under any circumstances, outsource to civilian squads of masked bounty hunters -- who operate without badges or warrants, and in unmarked vehicles -- the task of rounding up anyone they suspect is an undocumented immigrant.

Speaking of purging brown people, what a coincidence that -- given that Occupied LA is, at its core, about reversing demographics -- the first federal official to be treated like a common criminal is also the highest-ranking Latino elected official in the state.

One day, when these crimes against humanity mercifully come to an end -- perhaps because federal judges bring Trump to heel -- this largely Catholic city will need a battalion of exorcists to rid itself of the evil spirits left behind.

Pope Leo XIV must sense that. The first American pontiff recently instructed priests in the United States to accompany migrants to immigration hearings.

When they get to court, the priests are likely to come face to face with ICE agents and federal prosecutors who are helping Trump carry out his ethnic cleansing. They had better bring plenty of holy water.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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