By Tommy Acosta
Sedona, AZ –Whether you are Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, one truth remains: the vast majority of people on this planet are, at their core, decent. They believe in fairness, in dignity, and in the simple idea that other human beings matter.
It is precisely that shared sense of humanity that will drive the coming midterm elections. And it is why this election will not hinge on policy minutiae or talking points, but on conscience. What is coming is a blue wave born not of ideology, but of empathy.
The reason is painfully clear.
Images have power. And the images now circulating—of people being dragged from their workplaces, pulled out of schools, removed from churches, torn from their families by authorities—cut across political lines. They strike something deeper than party loyalty. They hit the heart.
Yes, remove violent criminals. Most people agree on that. But ripping mothers from children, fathers from families, neighbors from communities, and sending them into uncertain futures is something else entirely. It is wrong. And most Americans know it, even if they hesitate to say it out loud.
This is not what the majority of Americans signed up for.
Treating human beings like animals because their paperwork is incomplete is not strength—it is cruelty. And cruelty, no matter how it is packaged, does not sit well with people who care about humanity. With good people. With ordinary people who imagine themselves, their children, or their neighbors on the other side of that door.
As the administration demands higher arrest numbers from ICE and other agencies, enforcement will inevitably grow more aggressive, more forceful, more ruthless. Quotas do that. Bureaucracy does that. Power does that when it is detached from compassion.
More families will be torn apart.
More children will lose parents overnight.
More fear will ripple through communities that once felt safe.
And eventually, there will be a reckoning. Because when the so-called “criminals” are gone, the pressure to meet quotas will not disappear. The tactics will escalate. The net will widen. And the moral line will blur even further.
Those who once stood on the fence—moderate Republicans, independents, quiet conservatives—will recoil. Some will stay home. Others will change their affiliation. Many will simply refuse to participate in a system that feels increasingly un-American.
At the same time, Democrats and others who find these raids unnecessary and deeply offensive will be galvanized. They will vote with urgency, with anger, and with purpose. Power will shift—not because of slogans, but because of revulsion.
It would be politically wiser—though morally hollow—for sympathetic media outlets to stop showing the arrests altogether and redirect attention toward street protests and disorder instead. But even that won’t erase what people have already seen. You can’t unsee a child crying as a parent is taken away.
And looming over everything is the most unsettling question of all:
What happens when there are no undocumented immigrants left to deport?
Where do the tens of thousands of armed agents go next?
History offers an uncomfortable answer.
So think carefully, freedom-loving Americans.
Because compassion doesn’t belong to one party.
And when a nation loses sight of that, elections are the least of its worries.
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3 Comments
Sounds reasonable Tommy but when Hatred fills the highest offices in command of the nation and world being reasonable or expecting people to behave reasonably and with compassion while being suppressed, oppressed and regulated by a corrupt governmental system does not work. The safe guards allowing for such humanity have all been long removed, the judges, lawyers, scientists, politicians, talk show hosts etc. have all been long silenced.
I’ve hoped daily that Trump and MAGA are, were and will be an apparition that would one day fade into the annals of history like the Fascist Nazi’s of Europe we’re supposed to have done following WWII. Unfortunately greedy hate filled people who happen to also be the worlds wealthiest hate filled people hold tremendous sway over politicians both here and abroad (some of them have become politicians themselves both here and abroad) and they will all do whatever it takes to keep their ill gotten gains to include propping up the worst of the worst. Which is precisely what we have here and abroad today.
It’s not going away anytime soon but it is at least partially on the way out. Sadly we will never ever rid ourselves of greedy hateful hate filled people just as we will never eliminate Nazism, Fascism and Totalitarianism. They however will succeed in their goal of eliminating and eradicating the rest of us from the planet unless the majority of the people bring a Bigly Hammer down on the hateful minority that rears it’s selfish fugly head time and time again. As long as we play by the rules while they break every rule and law ever written we will remain their servants and victims.
Mr. Acosta, You have finally written a piece I can whole-heartedly agree with!! And with no glaring grammatical errors ;-} Congratulations!!
Yes, any American who cares about others is reeling from the vile tactics, unnecessary violence and sheer cruelty of trump’s ICE agents. Most people here in Sedona have hired a Hispanic person for yardwork or cleaning or something. I certainly have! And I’ve always found them to be good, honest hard-working folks. Plus nice, friendly, thoughtful and responsible. As a woman, I haven’t felt threatened or unsafe alone with any of them.
We in AZ live on twice-stolen land, first taken from Indigenous people, then from Mexico. Yup, until an unjust war in 1848, this area and much more belonged to Mexico. There are Hispanic Arizonans whose families have been here since before it was part of the US. And migrant workers are a centuries old resource who have helped make America great.
So, of all Americans, we should especially stand up for them!
@Blue Boelter
Thank you for reminding folks whose land this truly is. 176 years ago today, Mexico lost 55% of its territory
Mexico used to own vast territories in the American Southwest, which became all or parts of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma, following the Mexican-American War and the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ceded over half of Mexico’s land to the U.S..
Key Territories Ceded (Mexican Cession):
Entire States: California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona.
Parts of States: Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma.
Texas: The independent Republic of Texas, previously part of Mexico, also joined the U.S., leading to the war.
We basically stole the land from them under threat of violence. Mexican’s are not Spaniards they were colonized slave of Spanish rule. Mexicans are Indigenous peoples just like our indigenous tribes here. In fact they’re genetically related. Take Geronimo for example. He was Mescalero Apache a tribe with deep Mexican roots. There’s strong evidence that many tribes in North America migrated from South America and some possibly from Asia though that has yet to be definitively proven.
Unfortunately money talks and nothing and nobody else matter in the world of MAGA.