The following is a special update from our Forrest Gump Department, which is always diligently tracking and bringing to you the latest insanities and inanities on the subject of immigration in these here United States.
Fox News Latino is reporting that a 23-year-old Brazilian national has taken up occupancy in a $2.4 million mansion in a swank Boca Raton area neighborhood. Andre Barbosa, the squatter, decided to occupy the empty mansion, which was the subject of a foreclosure by the Bank of America in July of last year, and claim possession under an arcane Florida statute permitting such individuals to claim properties by right of "adverse possession". Apparently, he's only been there a short while, and under the statute, has to remain for a period of seven years before he gains clear title.
The media tells us that Bank of America is "taking the matter seriously". Gosh, ya think? With two-plus million simoleons at stake?
And as for the police — "officials say they can't do anything about it because he is not committing a crime." Wonder what happened to trespassing and loitering laws? When did they go into hibernation? Or maybe, like our federal government, Palm Beach County has declared a unilateral "prosecutorial discretion" policy against trespassers and vagrants.
Which leads me to my real point: Where are the immigration authorities in all of this? They sure seem to be laying low. What is this guy's status? DACA applicant? Overstayed nonimmigrant who's actually less intent on winning possession of the mansion than on buying a ticket to remain indefinitely by claiming his continued presence in the United States is necessary to pursue his options in court? What kind of bad joke is this? And why is the media so politically correct these days that they don't ask anyone pointed questions about the status of this "Brazilian national"? More pertinent, why isn't Bank of America?
Now just to rub some salt in the wounds, Fox Latino also tells us that "Barbosa put up a notice on the window claiming to be a sovereign citizen, a movement the FBI calls a domestic threat. Sovereign citizens believe they are free from government control and do not recognize federal, state, and/or local laws."
Wait a minute. "Sovereign citizen"? I thought he was a Brazilian national — an alien. Even (or, perhaps, especially) in the context of fringe nativist movements, this sobriquet makes absolutely zero sense.
If we as a country have become so ineffectual at enforcing the most basic and common-sensical laws where aliens are concerned, you tell me: How do you think "comprehensive immigration reform" is going to pan out for the American public at large, once our legislators and politicians get done with it?
Which brings us full circle to why this news comes from our Forrest Gump Department: "Stupid is as stupid does."