Living in the Time of Detention Camps

El Paso Texas, March 27, 2019, Central American migrants in a temporary holding “pen,” detained by the US Customs and Border Protection. Photo by Cedar Attanasio/AP, courtesy of wbur.org

Today, America moved a step closer to detention camps.

May 1

Consider why the US House bill (1) will not cauterize antisemitism.

It’s about democracy.

What does the above remark have to do with the recent legislation passed by the House to expand the following definition of antisemitism?

Statement adopted May 26, 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance at the Plenary Session in Bucharest. Screenshot by author. Image courtesy of AP News

Plenty.

It’s about enforcing the Constitution’s protections. When one is sworn in as a public officer, one is charged with “defending the Constitution of the United States.” One is not charged with protecting private property. One is not charged with defending Israel’s “right of self-determination.” These are ends searching for means. What regulates the public welfare are laws. When laws are broken, there are consequences. Full stop.

So too, for the making of laws, there are consequences. Consider the current legislation passed overwhelmingly by a 320–91 vote margin (2) in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday. This legislation was drafted in a desperate attempt to respond politically to the current campus protests. There have been campus incidents one could categorize…