Civics 101. The United States government has three branches: the executive, legislative, and judiciary. The idea is separation of powers between the branches, roughly an anti-tyranny system because no one branch has all the ruling powers. It is achieved through the checks and balances these three branches have on each other.

So-called president Donald Trump had worked a little over 3 months on the new job now. I used the word “work” out of kindness because I really don’t know how much time he actually spent on his job, other than watching himself on Fox News during the weekdays, and golfing on 3-day weekends in his big house called Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

While he kept gloating over the wins in his new job, the majority of Americans seem to disagree, even among many who voted for him. Polls differ, but it is safe to say that most, if not all of them, put him below the 50% mark of being effective or trustworthy. If you don’t agree with these polls, it’s OK. Like Humpty Dumpty himself, some people never agree with them unless the numbers make them and their cahoots look good. Academically I had my doubts about these polls many times myself. Polls depend on samples, which by definition do not mean everybody. So if a poll of 5,000 random people concludes one thing, it does not absolutely mean the true majority of 325 million people (the approximate US population) agree with it.

Depending on your philosophy, whether it is related to politics, morals and ethics, religion, family planning, etc., it is hard for two honest people to agree on a lot of things. But the beauty of living in a democracy is that we can disagree and still be friends. There is currently one thing that you and I probably could agree on, however, and that is, the judiciary branch of our federal government does not seem to think too highly of the orders put out by the executive branch (aka Donald Trump).

Take this recent example:

On or about April 25, 2017, a federal judge in San Francisco, William Orrick III, ruled against the president’s order that cities and local municipalities that are sanctuaries to undocumented immigrants will be penalized with reductions in federal funding. Sanctuary cities generally offer safe harbor to illegal immigrants and do not use local resources (local budget or law enforcement personnel) for the enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Judge Orrick made his decision mainly on the fact that the cuts threatened by the federal government went beyond the costs associated with federal immigration and therefore were unconstitutional. The Trump camp cried foul of course. I, together with a few friends (not all of them), was very happy — checks and balances are at work here.

And allow me to add this. This is not a legal argument by any means. I just want to share with you my feelings as an immigrant myself, a fellow working human being, and fellow tax-payer. Wait, illegal aliens pay taxes? They sure do. It is funny that you can’t apply for a lot of social benefits if you are undocumented. But what you make as income here, you are supposed to pay taxes on it. The federal government does not make that kind of distinction when it comes to collecting your money.

How about the objection that a lot of illegal aliens are criminals? I bet some of them are, just like some legal immigrants and native-borns are.

Here is another reason why I don’t care if a person I meet is legally or illegally admitted to this country. It is actually quite cruel and selfish. Every time when I go the grocery store, I think about the illegals (mainly from Latin America) who help raise our cattle and grow our produce. Do you think strawberries are expensive now? Wait till we don’t have the illegals to pick them!

Yes, I agree with some politicians on one issue. We should drive the hard-core criminals back to where they came from! But a lot of politicians are talking from both sides of their mouth. To save a buck, like you and I would like to, they hire nannies who are undocumented, house cleaners, gardeners, you name them….

Would you, your son and daughter, want those jobs?

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