The “just following orders” stage
If I were to carry out this order, I would refuse. Who cares whether she’s “legal” or not - deporting a sick child is simply inhumane. Those goddam monsters!
But yes, that’s quite right. The reign of terror in Hitler’s Third Reich was also only possible with those who carried out orders and clung to the idea that they were not responsible. Hannah Arendt described all this very well in “The Banality of Evil”.
Reading this now, and it strikes me as all the things I should have been taught about the Nazis beyond just the enormity of their cruelty:
Most important of all, how often just a little pushback stopped them stupid.
A student strike in German-occupied Belgium was enough pushback to stop the enforcement of the extradition of Jewish people there.
Italy, an ally at the beginning, would just say they would extradite their Jewish population, then not actually do it, in a loop, leaving the Germans frustrated simply by being lied to to their face and incapable of making progress.
You’re left with a picture of a bunch of bureaucrats following orders who are incapable of comprehending disobedience nor knowing how to handle it.
Though I suspect a large proportion of those in ice are doing it because they like the cruelty, the ones that are doing for the paycheque fall into the category you mentioned.
Yes, there are certainly many who are just inherently evil, but I don’t think that’s the majority. I think most of them are like Eichmann: objectively speaking, of course, they are also evil, but they don’t get satisfaction from their cruelty. They simply don’t question what they’re told because it’s their job - and that’s enough of an excuse for them towards others and also towards themselves. Doesn’t make them any less guilty, though, I would say.
The banally evil are the federal workers who document the files, who maintain the vehicles used to deport children, the healthcare workers who gave up on this child without a fight, etc. Those are guilty of collaboration but most probably aren’t doing evil for its own sake.
The ICE guys making the arrest are the fucking Gestapo. There simply is no excuse to be made for police who arrest sick children, that is a more than sufficient condition to be called Capital E Evil.
Okay. Don’t conflate this with me supporting ICE or the fascio-authoritarian state…BUT, lots of wealthy Americans are traveling to Mexico for healthcare because it’s cheaper, faster, and in some cases just flat out better. I hope this is the case for the kid. If it is, she may have hit the lottery when she needed it most. They get a free ticket out of the US, potentially better healthcare, and maybe a shit load of money for the government ignoring her rights.
