Be one with your vehicle

So…this man is pumping gas in Chula Vista California when he hears voices. Someone is crying for help. It sounds like Spanish.

He looks around but can’t see anyone. The voices are coming from under a van. The paramedics show up and call for the Border Patrol (BP at the BP).

Battalion Chief Jeff Peter said they were in "some sort of storage compartment in the under carriage of the vehicle. They were welded in with a steel plate that had been installed on the underside of the vehicle."

In all there were three people – two adults and a child.

If there are any ethicists reading this blog, where do these three stand in the area of deportability?

I mean, those who murder or run drugs are deportable in the minds of most Americans. It gets fuzzy when there is an old woman who has been here without papers for 30 years and has never been arrested. Somewhere in between is everyone else.

So, they apparently just recently snuck across the border. Low score for that, right? I mean, no ties, no home, no job.

Maybe a few points if they are a family unit.

I suppose there are some sympathy points because they had to be pried out from under the van with a can opener. And you’ve got to admit they are lucky. Ditto for their desire to come here.

Help me out on the ethics here because that is exactly what Washington is doing. They are going to have to qualify different groups since we won’t let them legalize 12 million.
Me? I’d turn to Professor Vernon Briggs at Cornell University. He’d have the answer.