SHOULDN’T LAWMEN obey the law? (Shutterstock).

Do It Right Dept. There was an incident recently near a Garden Grove public school in which immigration agents seized a man, handcuffed him, and held him in a van for about an hour before releasing him when he was able to prove his status.

This is not just about illegal aliens. There are estimated to be about 11 million “undocumented workers” in the United States.

While I can feel sympathy with people who felt compelled to make a dangerous and risky entry into the U.S. to escape extreme poverty, narco-terrorism or political chaos, there never was a guarantee of success.

You live with the decisions you make.

And it’s not a partisan issue, either. In President Barack Obama’s two terms, it’s reported that around 1.5 million illegals were deported – or to use the more polite term – “repatriated.”

In fact, he received considerable criticism from some Hispanic leaders, who called him “deporter-in-chief” mockingly.

This is about the law and our Constitution. People – regardless of skin color or occupation – are entitled to the due process of law. Arrests or “detainment” should be made based on “probable cause,” not because you are brown.

When the crackdown on illegal immigration was launched at the beginning of this administration, much of the justification was to get rid of criminals among the migrants. I’m all for that. Scoot them out.

But – as has been said – “let’s start with the murderers and not the landscapers.”

If we are headed down a road where the well-tanned can be grabbed off the street by masked men and sent out of the country, all our rights are in jeopardy.
Who knows? I might be writing this column from Italy next week.