Why US is jailing foreign tourists

The reason the US is jailing foreign tourists for weeks, when what it really wants is for them to leave, is that the default response to any violation of a rule is an overreaction: to jail them.

It seems that deportation thugs are harming the US as well as the unfortunate tourists who broke a rule, by being self-defeatingly authoritarian toward them.

I can imagine various safe ways to give then a chance to leave soon on their own power — perhaps while using an ankle bracelet to make sure that they leave reasonably soon.

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