How Come?

How come people who protest at the Capitol in DC can go to jail for years without charges, while people who support Palestinians, or BLM, or Antifa can protest anywhere, anytime, with or without a permit, and they never get interfered with?

How come it’s okay for rioters in major cities to burn and loot with no repercussions, no consequences, nothing at all, while protesters who entered the Capitol and who destroyed a few windows and doors are arrested and hounded by the FBI and DOJ for four years?

Of course we all know the answer, it’d the two tier justice system in the US, which should have ended January 20, 2025. We were promised it will end, and we expect promises made to be promises kept.

We also expect that all of the January 6 political prisoners will be freed, those convicted will receive a pardon, all will have their second amendment rights restored, and there will be the mother of all class action suits to get some payback for the trauma and prejudiced treatment they received. It will not happen immediately, but it better have started day 1.

The wall better restart in the first hundred days, it can’t be completed soon enough for me. And we’re happy Tom Homan got his posse on the street immediately. We can’t wait for all – that’s right, all – the illegals to be deported. If you came to this country illegally, go home now before you get the boot. If you brought children with you, pack them up and take them with you too. If you had an anchor baby you have a choice to make. That baby can’t stay here alone, so your choice as the parent is to take the child with you or get someone who is a citizen to adopt the child. No ifs, no ands, no buts. If you’re illegal you’re outta here!

And don’t cry about the cost of artichokes. The H2-A visa has been in use for years to provide seasonal workers for agriculture. The price of produce may increase if farmers are forced to pay a living wage, something they should have been doing all along. If someone tells you there will be no one to pick tomatoes, tell them they’re full of BS. If US workers won’t do the job for a living wage, there are foreigners who will.

And of course, you’ll hear, “who will build the houses without illegals?” Lo, and behold there’s a visa for that! It’s called the H2-B, and it’s for non-farm temporary workers. It has the same restrictions as H2-A, as both are typically for 1 year but extendable for up to 3 years.

Workers in both H2-A and H2-B categories can get visas year after year. Their employer must fill out the paperwork and get government approval. Like the H1-B visa there are supposed to be wage controls on the H2 category visas. We’re hoping all of the visa categories are reviewed, updated, and enforced strenuously. I’m not a supporter of illegals, but if you’re here on a visa you deserve reasonable, legal, humane treatment and a living wage.

Sanctuary cities need to go away. The idea of a sanctuary city is to violate federal laws you don’t agree with. Tom Homan has mentioned that if the mayors or city councils don’t want to assist, they better get out of the way. Any resistance will result in arrests and trials. When it may cost local politicians more than just bad press to violate federal laws, we’ll see how many of them believe enough to put their freedom on the line.

Someone suggested an open air holding facility in Arizona for people caught crossing the border illegally. The alleged illegals would be held in the camp until their court date. I can’t agree with that idea, as attractive as it is. Open air detention in Arizona would be inhuman. That doesn’t mean illegal immigrants can’t be housed in minimal facilities with no amenities. The only thing about those facilities that would be exceptional is the security. I’d prefer if we just sent them back where they came from, but requesting sanctuary requires hearings, and we should support that, or change the law. There’s no guarantee, though, that they’ll live in luxury while they wait. The remain in Mexico plan Trump had arranged was a good solution, and if it can be renegotiated, that would be the best option.

While we’re talking about illegal immigrants and their right to due process, we need to talk about radically increasing the number of immigration judges. Immigration Judge (IJ) is not a low-level law position. There are many stringent qualifications for the position. The choke point in any plan to deport a lot of illegals is the lack of IJs.

Many in the system for deportation will not require an IJ. People who entered illegally and are caught will be sent back. It’s the people who claim sanctuary who will need access to the legal system, and whom we, the US, will have to hold until their court date or find a fool-proof way to guarantee they will show up for court. Until we have a guaranteed way to get those people to show up for court, they’ll have to be detained.

A more serious problem, and one we should have discussed earlier, is how we go about prosecuting all those who broke the law, and we’re not talking retribution, we’re talking criminal actions. First, I believe we need to distinguish between lawfare (the strategic use of legal systems and institutions to achieve a political, military, or strategic objective) and criminal acts (an action or omission that violates a law established to protect public safety, order, and welfare). If someone breaks a rule, but no law, or a law has to be reinterpreted, or a statute of limitations needs to be extended to prosecute, they may be despicable, but they’re not a criminal.

Criminals, on the other hand, need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Adam Schiff lied under oath. There’s a law for that. Engaging in false prosecutions ( which includes Merrick Garland and everyone who participated in the J6 prosecutions). There’s a law for that. Inciting riots (Nancy Pelosi and Muriel Bowser by refusing to use the National Guard on J6). There’s a law for that. Treason (General Mark Milley for delaying the National Guard in defiance of a legal order from the Commander in Chief and for multiple phone calls to Chinese Generals to assure them he would call if Trump was going to attack). There is certainly a law for that. And the list goes on.

The J6 Committee was not only illegal (it was incorrectly formed and staffed), its leadership committed witness tampering (Liz Cheney, bless her heart). Those who sanctioned this committee and those who served on it should be removed from congress for working against the good order of the US and tried for any crimes committed. And the list goes further, but you get the drift.

And to add to the list (and the pressure of more fixes needed), things that Biden snarfed like pipelines and drilling for new oil and natural gas deposits, mining coal, developing nuclear power, and a host of other projects just waiting for a starting gun.

Internationally we have issues with the following: China (tariffs, embargo), Iran (tariffs, embargo), Ukraine (force Russia/Ukraine to the negotiating table), Russia (see Ukraine), Radical Muslims (strictly controlled immigration).

Our immigration problem has two sides, those who overstay a visa and those who enter illegally. Remove anyone on a visa who breaks the law, and send visa holders home the day their visa expires.

Stop immigration completely for 2 years to allow time to get a handle on who, what, when, where, and especially why we will allow people to come into the US. During this 2 year hiatus, immigration law must be reviewed and updated to reflect the reality that the US still needs immigrants, however we need more skilled immigrants than unskilled, and our immigration law should reflect this.

Immigration law must be changed to stop allowing a person who immigrates to petition the government to allow a family member to immigrate, who then, after qualifying, can themselves petition the government to allow their family members entry. In this case, a single entry can result in many legal immigrants in a short time. This chain entry may be wonderful for a country that has a need for warm bodies and strong backs. However, if that first immigrant was a skilled person who came in because they had knowledge or skills needed, and the rest of their family doesn’t, we end up with a lot of people when the need was to fill one job. That’s oversimplified, but correct.

Our immigration law must be changed to favor the US and our needs.

One last subject in this already too long post, is assimilation. Every immigrant group up to the mid-20th century assimilated. The Irish, Germans, Italians, Poles, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, even the English, assimilated. They learned our ways, brought the best of their culture to the rest of us, and became good US citizens.

I can’t say the same for the modern crop of illegal immigrants. Possibly because they’re illegal they hide from the society, cling to their native language, and don’t eventually become “one of us.”

Assimilation used to be a requirement. You had to learn English the way we speak it, you had to know our laws, you had to respect our institutions. That’s not the case anymore. It’s not a longing for the good old days, although that’s part of it.

Without assimilation the US becomes a stew pot instead of a melting pot, and the difference is existential. In a melting pot, everything melds, bringing it’s own special “thing” to the final product. In a stew pot, each individual ingredient remains separate although part of the whole. There is no consistency to a stew pot as there is in a melting pot. The United States was and needs to be again a melting pot. We must encourage those changes needed to accomplish this.

Are there any other subjects you think we need to include in this discussion? If so, please write a comment. I promise I’ll respond.

John Adams, the second President of the United States, commented on immigration in a letter to his wife, Abigail Adams, in 1798 during the debates about the Alien and Sedition Acts:

“Our country has room enough for honest men. It is the refuge of thousands and millions of oppressed human beings. But there is a danger from the rapid multiplication of certain sects among us, who may become powerful and formidable enemies to the government.”

And that’s still true.

Jack Sotallaro

Continuity planning, civilian and military