And therein lies the rub...

Destruction of community bonds

I live in Jefferson County, West Virginia – in the Eastern Panhandle and well within the gravitational pull of the Washington DC Beltway. It’s West Virginia, so you would correctly assume we are a conservative, Trump and MAGA supporting area. But there are a lot of folks here who support some causes you might call liberal: clean air, clean water, environmental protection, preservation of our farmland (yes that’s both liberal and conservative these days), etc. We also have an active Indivisible chapter that organizes protests against the current administration’s efforts to turn our democracy into an autocracy. Folks gather every week at several locations to protest the actions and policies of the federal administration. And, our local law enforcement officials have always protected our right to peaceful protest. Federal park police at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park have also protected us as we demonstrate against the current administration.

Several years ago when we were protesting a foreign corporation’s plant that endangers our air and water, we coordinated closely with our sheriff’s office to avoid problems when some folks undertook non-violent, but illegal, actions resulting in several arrests. No one was harmed. We were on different sides of the law that day, but we were all members of our community.

Given our proximity to DC, we have a number of federal facilities, including a large Customs and Border Patrol training facility in the southeast corner of the county. In the southwest corner of the county we have a large private training facility that carried out training for various government agencies over the years. And we have a wonderful Fish and Wildlife Service training/conference facility. We are used to a federal presence in our county.

But things changed this week, just as they have changed in so many cities and towns across our nation. The US Marshals Mountain State Fugitive Task Force arrested an El Salvadoran national wanted on an outstanding warrant from Texas in Charles Town; the man was arrested for aggravated sexual assault of a child in 1998. I think most can agree this is a serious charge warranting arrest and trial. But the marshals made the decision to involve ICE in the operation to arrest the fugitive (who was undocumented) which resulted in the arrest of six other individuals who attempted to flee the scene. The operation to arrest the fugitive took place at a beloved local Mexican restaurant. Given ICE’s involvement, we have to ask if those arrested will receive the due process we have come to expect in this county and in this country.

The Authoritarian Playbook warns us about the politicization of institutions necessary to the smooth functioning of our democracy, including law enforcement. As we have seen here over the last few years, our community depends on an independent and well-functioning local law enforcement. But what will happen if those people decide (or are forced) to collaborate with forces determined to hurt our friends and neighbors, subjecting some of them to punishments more akin to the old Soviet Gulag than a well-functioning democratic judicial system where one is presumed innocent until proven guilty and all are guaranteed equal protection under the law? What happens when our law enforcement system crumbles under the weight of an authoritarian ruler? What happens when the community bonds which we have come to trust are frayed? Those are questions we must, sadly, ask ourselves in this new world. Questions many of us never thought we would have to ask.