Dwain Northey (Gen X)

It’s truly inspiring to watch the Moral Right practice its favorite Olympic sport: pretending not to notice things. Specifically, pretending not to notice that ICE only seems to discover “invasions,” “crises,” and “lawlessness” in places that voted blue. What an astonishing coincidence. California! Minnesota! Illinois! Seattle (yes, the entire city apparently counts as a sovereign menace now). All crawling with “terrible illegals doing terrible things,” according to the breathless cable-news whisper-scream.

Meanwhile, Texas and Florida—those red, white, and righteous strongholds—remain curiously protest-free, outrage-free, and largely ICE-swarm-free, despite housing millions of undocumented immigrants themselves. Millions. As in: the same people, doing the same jobs, living the same lives, mowing the same lawns, rebuilding the same hurricane-destroyed neighborhoods. But don’t worry, they’re different immigrants. You know—invisible ones.

Because apparently undocumented people become exponentially more dangerous the moment they cross a city limit where the electorate prefers Democrats.

Isn’t it fascinating how the Moral Right never asks why there aren’t ICE theatrics outside Mar-a-Lago-adjacent construction sites, or why meatpacking plants in deep-red counties don’t get nightly live coverage of agents in tactical gear? Why there aren’t candlelight vigils for “law and order” in the Florida strawberry fields or Texas oil towns? Why the moral panic GPS always reroutes itself directly to liberal cities?

The answer, of course, is simple: this has never been about immigration.

It’s about permission. Permission to punish political enemies while calling it patriotism.

If this were truly about crime, the data would be inconvenient. So it must be ignored. Historically, immigrants—documented or not—commit less violent crime than native-born citizens. That’s not a liberal talking point; it’s an empirical nuisance. But facts are terribly rude when they interrupt a good scapegoating session.

If this were about “the rule of law,” then enforcement would be boring, evenly distributed, and tragically lacking in made-for-TV moments. Instead, we get performative crackdowns in cities that dared to vote the wrong way—complete with press releases, militarized optics, and a carefully curated villain of the week.

And if this were about morality—actual morality, not the cosplay version—there might be some self-reflection. Some recognition that exploiting undocumented labor for decades and then criminalizing its existence is not righteousness; it’s a racket. A racket that requires selective blindness and very loud shouting.

So when the Moral Right asks, “Why are there protests?” the better question is:

Why aren’t there protests in Texas or Florida?

Because the goal isn’t justice.

It’s obedience.

And the map gives it away.