Harger: If you overstayed your visa in China, you’d disappear. That’s why America must be different

Immigration raids are happening nationwide. They’re dramatic, divisive, and they’re testing who we really are.

We’re looking into reports that Border Patrol agents arrested two guys yesterday working on a wildfire crew at the Bear Gulch Fire.

Gallup shows 79% of Americans support legal immigration. But illegal immigration? Republicans favor deportation at 77%, and Democrats at 14%. These are genuine disagreements about law, fairness, and compassion.

Here’s what I keep thinking about: If you overstayed a visa in China or Saudi Arabia, you wouldn’t get a lawyer. You wouldn’t get a hearing. You’d be detained, probably mistreated, and expelled. In some countries, you’d simply disappear into detention.

Is that who WE want to be?

Broadly speaking, enforcing the immigration law isn’t wrong. Countries need borders. People who waited years to come here legally deserve to have those rules matter. We have every right to secure our borders and decide who stays.

But consider this: 78% of Americans believe immigrants here illegally should have a chance to earn citizenship if they meet certain requirements over time. That is not saying we can’t enforce our laws, or that we can’t deport people. It is saying most Americans believe we should be thoughtful about how we do it. That we should recognize differences between people and situations.

I think of those who have been here for decades. They’ve built our houses, harvested our food, and raised American children. They’ve been PTA members, neighbors, and coaches. Their only violation was how they arrived, not how they’ve lived. Are they deserving of the same treatment as someone here illegally who has committed violent crimes?

Common sense and common decency suggest they’re not, and our enforcement priorities should reflect that difference.

We face a choice. We can conduct raids like authoritarian regimes do: midnight arrests, maximum humiliation, no dignity. Or we can do it the American way: we can enforce our laws, we can deport people, but we do it with due process, with basic respect, recognizing that even people who broke our immigration laws remain human beings.

We can be firm but humane.

This isn’t about being soft. It’s about being strong enough to enforce our laws without cruelty. Strong enough to maintain our humanity even when it’s inconvenient.

Other countries would treat us worse. Much worse. That’s their failure, not our excuse. We’re supposed to be the exception — the city on the hill. Well, the world is watching that hill.

The measure of America isn’t whether we enforce our borders. It’s how we do it. We can uphold our laws without losing our soul.

Other nations show their power through cruelty. America has always shown its power through restraint. Now is not the time to forget that.

Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here. 

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