A group of Trump supporters in a small Indiana town are finding out the hard way that some of the new President’s stances may have sounded perfectly reasonable in an airplane hanger rally back in October, but not so much when the teeth of those policies take a bite out of someone they know. South Bend Mayor Peter Buttigieg recently penned an article for the Huffington Post detailing the plight of one Indiana man being detained in Kenosha, Wisconsin, some 17 years after he came to America for Mexico.
Roberto Beristain, the owner of Eddie’s Steak Shed, a popular restaurant in Granger, Indiana, has been detained since February 6th after being told he had a 16-year-old deportation order that was just now being enforced, even though over the years he has successfully and responsibly received a green card, a Social Security card, a work permit, a driver’s license, and checked in regularly with ICE. Since then, Beristain has only been permitted to see his wife for thirty minutes a week, and his current whereabouts are unknown.
According to Buttigieg, Beristain, who migrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 2000, has been a model citizen since arriving in the United States. His neighbors and customers are up in arms as to why, after all these years, he would be plucked from a place where he has made a difference and sent back to a home he no longer knows. Buttigieg goes on to say he finds it ironic, but heartwarming, that so many conservatives would fight for the rights of an immigrant at a time when the President is literally trying to put up a wall between them.
But most striking of all is how many of the people now sticking up for Roberto are politically conservative. These are small-town Indiana residents, veterans and grandparents who come to his restaurant after Mass or Rotary. They vigorously defend him as a man they are proud to call a friend. And the more I think about it, the more clearly it is consistent with their conservative values that they stand up for Roberto.
Earlier this month, the South Bend Tribune reported that Beristain had received a deportation order in New York all the way back in 2000 after he and his wife inadvertently crossed the Canada border while visiting Niagra Falls. Because of that order, Beristain’s family must now rely on the “detainee locator” on ICE’s website to find out where he is. Beristain’s neighbors argue that he embodies the hard work, small business ownership, and family man values that make their small town, and America, so special.
Buttigieg writes that he’s met with both the Beristain family and his neighbors, and the difference he has made in the community is evident. None of them ever imagined they would find themselves in a situation where one of their good friends was being swept away by the enforcement of laws they don’t see as reasonable:
As one supporter wrote me, “I voted for President Trump because I believed he was promising to develop a process to remove the illegal immigrants that have done acts against the United States,” meaning serious crimes. “I also believed that he was going to correct the red tape that blocks the immigrants from becoming a citizen that have been a positive contributor to the way of life here,” like Roberto.
For now, the Beristain family and his neighbors must wait and see where he pops up. In the mean time they continue to fight for his rights, even after inadvertently voting against them.
(Via The Huffington Post)
