What is happening in Wisconsin today with a 21-year-old Wisconsin State Trooper named Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe deserves your attention. A young man who came to the United States legally from South Africa as a child, who grew up here, who chose a career in public service, and who has spent nearly a year serving as a Wisconsin State Trooper, is now sitting in federal immigration detention. His alleged offense? An immigration status dispute involving a pending asylum application and a work authorization card that, according to his attorney, is valid through 2030.
According to attorney Marc Christopher, when Van Der Merwe presented his documentation and explained his immigration circumstances to ICE agents, they essentially said they didn’t care. He was handcuffed, shackled, and taken into detention. The public needs to know why. How does a young man trusted by the State of Wisconsin to wear a badge and serve its citizens end up behind bars while his bogus immigration case gets ramped up for nothing more than some ICE lowlifes, scared to show their faces, and only wanting to inflict some more cruelty upon society?
This is another prime example of ICE’s outlandish behavior, and it’s too hard to ignore. Immigration enforcement is supposed to operate under the law, with fairness, consistency, and due process. But when people with established lives, families, careers, and meaningful connections to this country are swept into detention, the questions become unavoidable. Where is the proportionality? Where is the consideration of individual circumstances? Where is the humanity?
It is difficult not to see a broader pattern by ICE of spiteful, punitive, and targeted actions toward people whose only distinction is that they were not born in this country. Here we have a young man who serves in a job to protect this state’s residents and uphold its laws, and I would argue he is a great reminder of the American story. Someone who arrives from different corners of the world, builds a life, contributes his talents, and becomes part of the fabric of our communities. That is not something to fear. It is something to recognize, appreciate, and applaud.
Diversity is not a weakness in the American story. It is one of its defining strengths. The people who come here, work hard, raise families, serve their communities, and contribute to our collective future are part of what makes this country what it is. Their backgrounds should not make them permanent outsiders, nor should their birthplace become a reason to treat them as less deserving of fairness.
Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe’s situation should concern every Wisconsin resident, regardless of political affiliation. Today it is a state trooper. Tomorrow it could be a neighbor, a coworker, or a business owner down the street. The question is not whether immigration laws should exist. The question is whether those laws are being administered with the fairness and judgment that a nation founded on the promise of opportunity ought to demand.
Release Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe at once.
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