ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- Immigrants do so much for Americans. They care for our children, look after our elderly, cook our food, make our beds, trim our lawns and perform other tasks in our homes and businesses.

Must they now entertain us? Do we expect them to make us laugh to help pass all the free time we have because they're doing our chores?

Many Americans who support the Trump administration's deportation raids no doubt got a chuckle from a video of what U.S. immigration authorities are calling "Operation Trojan Horse." It went viral.

Of course, the reference is to the classic tale of the Greeks using a giant wooden horse filled with soldiers to infiltrate and conquer Troy.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection put on a low-rent version by stuffing a dozen border patrol agents into a Penske rental truck and driving the truck onto the parking lot of a Home Depot in Los Angeles.

Over the last 30 years, big box stores have become makeshift temp agencies where homeowners who need a helping hand can pull up and hire day laborers who gather in the parking lot looking for work.

That's right. I said "work." Notice the Border Patrol isn't raiding welfare offices. There are no immigrants there, only U.S. citizens.

Anyway, the driver of the truck pretends to need several workers for a work project. Excitedly, the workers approach the vehicle hoping that they'll be among the lucky ones to be chosen. They might make $40 for the day and be able to put a little food on the table for their family.

Instead, the back door opens and out jump the border patrol agents. They're decked out in tactical gear, and they're carrying automatic weapons as if they were invading Moscow -- or Washington, D.C.

The workers scatter. To them, this is no game. They've probably already suffered a lot of pain and trauma to get from their hometowns to that parking lot. They can't afford to be deported. If they're removed, they will likely come back with the help of a smuggler -- especially if their family members remain on this side of the border. But that's an expensive option given that the smugglers usually raise their prices whenever there is a crackdown north of the border.

Back at the Home Depot, the Border Patrol agents don't have warrants issued by judges with the names of specific undocumented immigrants they're looking for. But they do have a daily quota to meet -- 3,000 arrests per day. So they grab whoever they can grab, indiscriminately throwing people to the ground and securing their hands with zip ties.

According to a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, the operation "resulted in the arrest of 16 illegal aliens from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua."

If you're thinking that this sort of broad immigration sweep ought to be illegal, you're right. In fact, it is illegal. Law enforcement operations have to be targeted at specific individuals wanted by authorities. They need warrants signed by judges. Local and state police need "probable cause." Immigration agents can get by with just "reasonable suspicion."

On July 12, U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong issued a temporary restraining order against U.S. immigration authorities. According to The Associated Press, Frimpong cited a "mountain of evidence" proving that many arrests, stops and detentions were unconstitutional because they were based on race, language or place of employment. A few weeks later, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the TRO and said that -- if the Trump administration was acting appropriately and not unfairly targeting individuals and communities -- Frimpong's order should not interfere with enforcement efforts.

It's a simple concept. One can't enforce law by breaking the law. Americans have seen enough of this idea of lawmen turned outlaws.

By the way, isn't it interesting that you don't see stings targeting those who hire the undocumented? Some of them are also breaking the law. But many of them can probably afford lawyers. So they get a pass.

If hiring day laborers isn't for you, I recently paid a U.S.-born handyman to do odd jobs around the house that I don't have the time or skill to take care of myself. My helper was a nice young man, white kid, English-speaking. He's available -- for $90 per hour.

Not interested? OK, then part of the responsibility for how we got here belongs to people like you. And there is nothing funny about that.

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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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