Vigilantes?

El Presidente Bush recently referred to the volunteer border patrol group called the Minutemen as “vigilantes.” Of course, though Bush thinks he said something both strong and negative, he unwittingly indicts himself. Vigilante justice proliferates in times of ineffectual government when a community’s safety cannot be secured by established authorities, e.g., in resistance to corrupt small town sheriffs, in the popular Diry Harry motiff following the 1970s crime wave, in the 18th Century “Regulators,” etc. If this gap between the community’s demand for safety and the inability of law enforcement authorities persists, a parallel and pathological government of patrons and clients may develop, as we see in the ungovernable reaches of Afghanistan or, closer to home, in the Mafia culture of Sicily.

Far from “blaming the victim,” Bush should ask whether he can secure the border as the law commands. Bush has repeatedly signalled his “wink and nod” approval of illegal immigrants who work in America’s labor intensive industries. Bush has also repeatedly supported some kind of amnesty for those illegals already here. So long as Bush thumbs his nose at American public opinion–and, more important, its duly enacted immigration laws–he can expect some kind of private law enforcement response, in this case the modest efforts of the Minutemen to track and report illegals crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Because Bush has frequently made apologies for the illegal entry of aliens into the United States–i.e., “family values don’t stop at the Rio Grande“–it is hypocritical and self-serving for Bush now to adopt the “rule of law” langauge that would condemn private efforts to curb illegal immigration.

Advertisement