In the sweeping, high-stakes theater of American demographics, the massive surge in recruitment of rural white men into federal immigration enforcement represents a fundamental reconfiguration of the labor force. At the macro-level, the current administration has treated the heartland as a reservoir for a vast “wartime recruitment” effort, doubling the size of ICE to over 22,000 agents. Yet, at the micro-level, this strategy is creating a specialized class of workers whose professional identity is built upon the dismantling of their own economic lifelines. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Public Policy
Congress creatures of the swamp
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It has often been remarked that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress. But that, I fear, is a touch too harsh for a Wednesday. To be fair to our representatives, they do occasionally take a break from the arduous task of spending other people’s money to return home and engage in what they call a “District Work Period.” In the common tongue of the citizen who actually earns his bread, this is known as a recess; in the eyes of the cynical, it is merely a parade. Continue reading