In the opening sequence of the 1942, film Casablanca, we follow a police officer searching for refugees in flight from the Nazis. Stopping a civilian for investigation, the officer … speaking in a carefully modulated German accent … demands: “May we see your papers, please?”  

It should come as no surprise that this heart-stopping sequence has become a cultural metaphor for life in a repressive state.  And, at the risk of putting too-fine-a-point on the issue, one is left to wonder whether the fictional event just described might not be a suitable analogy for the world around us today.

Like every American, I want to live in a safe and secure world.  And while I believe illegal immigrants have no place in our country, it is essential that the rule of law … and, especially, due process … be adhered to when it comes to deportations. I am, of course, fully aware that this view is not shared by some in positions of political authority. 

Needless to say, I am not personally acquainted with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident who was deported, recently, to a “super max” prison in El Salvador.  The details of his status in the United States have been widely reported but, the most telling aspect of this matter has to be the government’s acknowledgment that his banishment was “a mistake.”  In other words, he should never have been sent to incarceration in a foreign country.

Most of us, when we make a mistake, take steps to make things right … but that is not what happened here.  Instead, we were witness to a press conference with President Trump and Nayib Bukele, the self-described “world’s coolest dictator” of El Salvador, both chuckling about Garcia’s plight and Bukele’s refusal to return him to the US.  It was at this event that Trump made the stunning suggestion that expulsions of this sort might be suitable for “home grown” criminals as well.

I do not know whether Garcia is a member of the violent MS-13 gang or not but, regardless, the US Constitution grants him the right to due process, and the highest court in the land … the US Supreme Court … has ordered that his return be “facilitated.”  As of this writing, though, the government has not complied with that ruling.

During a recent interview marking his first 100 days in office, President Trump described a photograph showing various tattoos on Garcia’s hand.  In that they included the letters and numbers M,S,1 and 3, the photo was offered as evidence of Garcia’s membership in that notorious group (and, therefore, justifying his deportation).  According to a variety of sources, though, those letters and numbers were “Photoshopped” onto the original image, a fact which Trump vehemently denied.

Sigh.

Among his many prescient observations, German philosopher Theodor Adorno (1903-1969) suggested that a nation’s descent into hell begins when all questions of truth are converted into questions of power.  Further, when a government attacks the distinction between true and false it does so, according to Adorno, in furtherance of its own version of reality.

Sound familiar?  Might Adorno have been ahead of his time in contemplating the sort of government that rejects criticism by using such phrases as “fake news” and “media hoax”?

Adding to the mix in this dystopian world, Senior White House Antiterrorism Advisor Sebastian Gorka has gone so far as to suggest that Americans should not question government decisions about deportations.  In Gorka’s universe, if you are not on the side of the government, you are in league with terrorists and illegal aliens, adding: “… you have to ask yourself: Are they technically aiding and abetting them? Because aiding and abetting criminals and terrorists is a crime in federal statute.”

For a reasoned response to Gorka’s view, we need look no further than the words of the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt who, in 1918, wrote:  

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

To be clear, I am not suggesting that we are … or will soon become … a totalitarian state.  Neither do I believe that we should countenance criminals in our midst.  We would be well-advised, however, to care about the fate of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, for the way in which he is treated will say much about how we, as a nation, view and treat others … including those like you and me.