Impeachment

by Mark Spivak

  “I don’t think I’ve been very helpful,” said Wallko as they shook hands. “All I can tell you, sir, is don’t let this go to the Senate.”

  Chapter 41

  Under normal circumstances, the event would have been televised by Univision, Telemundo and possibly C-SPAN.

  However, these were very far from normal circumstances. When Jorge Mendoza came to the podium to address the annual conference of Criollos Unidos, the ballroom of the Washington Hilton was filled with camera crews from every network and cable outlet in the country. Mendoza received a standing ovation that continued for more than five minutes.

  “My fellow warriors,” he said when the crowd finally quieted down. “It is my pleasure to be here with you today as we gather in the midst of our common and ongoing struggle. I thank you for coming, and I know that God will guide your steps when you leave this hall.

  “This has been a difficult year. When President Atalas first took office, many of us harbored the dream that we could begin a dialogue about twelve million of our brothers and sisters who came to this country in search of a better life. Almost all of them were poor when they arrived here. Many were desperate. Without exception, they loved this country and the opportunities it provided.

  “These brothers and sisters took the jobs no one else wanted. They worked in the kitchens of restaurants, cleaned houses, and mopped the floors of office buildings. They endured discrimination. They were hired for low wages and dismissed without cause, with their employers knowing that they had no way to complain. They survived, they endured, and they built a future for their families.

  “Today, these twelve million brothers and sisters are still in the shadows. Their hard work has not been rewarded, and they have not been given a path to citizenship. They are condemned to live in fear, knowing that they may be rounded up at any moment and sent back to the life they desperately wanted to escape.

  “A few of them—a very fortunate few—were able to become citizens of this great country. They believed in the democratic ideal, with both a small and a capital D. They knew that the United States was a paradise compared to the land they had fled, and they hoped that someday the privilege of citizenship would be available to all.

  “The lucky few also believed in the principles of the Democratic Party. They were taught that the Democrats were on the side of the worker and the common man, the disadvantaged and the downtrodden. This was the legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy. They knew that if they gave their support to the Democrats, that their interests would be represented. They believed that someday, they would be granted the dignity of citizenship.

  “When Khaleem Atalas ran for President, he promised comprehensive immigration reform. He spoke with compassion for the twelve million, and he pledged to us that they would not be forgotten. As I stand here today, five years have passed. Do we have immigration reform?”

  “No!” roared the crowd.

  “Have our twelve million brothers and sisters come out of the shadows?”

  “No!”

  “I ask you: Are we better off today that we were five years ago?”

  “No!”

  “Certainly not. Most certainly not. This man is no Franklin D. Roosevelt. He is no John F. Kennedy. It is painfully obvious that he is a bag of wind, a collection of empty promises. For all our loyalty to the Democratic Party, let us not forget that the last significant immigration reform came during the administration of Ronald Reagan, who extended the possibility of amnesty to millions of our people. His efforts weren’t perfect, but at least he tried. And Ronald Reagan, let us not forget, was a Republican.

  “I am forced to recognize the painful truth that the Democratic Party has abandoned us. They no longer seem to care about our hopes and dreams, about whether we are treated fairly. All they seem to care about is themselves.

  “To make matters worse, there are currently more than 100,000 of our people being held in concentration camps along the U.S.-Mexico border. I call them concentration camps because the conditions, in some respects, are no better than what people endured as prisoners under the Nazis. They are filthy, they are overcrowded, they are violent and dangerous places. The prisoners held there are being caged like animals.

  “Khaleem Atalas has the power to do something about this situation. If he cared to, he could use this terrible state of affairs to bring about true immigration reform. But he doesn’t do that. In fact, he doesn’t do anything—despite the fact that sending the immigrants back to Mexico at this point would almost be the compassionate thing to do, compared to keeping them enslaved in subhuman conditions.

  “I have been fortunate in life, but my most fortunate realization was this: You cannot be disenfranchised unless you consent to it. There is no way that you can occupy an inferior position in society unless you have the misguided belief that you’re not entitled to a better outcome.

  “So I call upon you today to treat the Democratic Party as they have treated us. I call upon you to remember the mistreatment, the broken promises, the political expediency that took power for themselves while denying it to others. I call upon you to remember it during next year’s midterm elections, during the next Presidential election, and during every political campaign to come. If we disavow the Democrats and align ourselves with politicians who represent our interests, we stand a chance for equality and justice. It is obvious that we will never get those things from the Democratic Party of Khaleem Atalas.

  “Let the Democrats know that they can no longer take us for granted. Let them realize that there is no safe Hispanic voting bloc, that there are no safe inner-city Congressional seats. Above all, let them know that life is not a one-way street.

  “As I stand here today, I know all too well that millions of our people are suffering. But I also know that we can and will triumph. With the determination to succeed, and with God on our side, we can achieve the basic dream of all mankind: to be treated with dignity and respect.

  “God bless you, my brothers and sisters.”

  “Good Lord,” said Linda Buckmeister, as she watched the Criollos Unidos speech in Chet Wallko’s Senate office. “What on earth happened to him?”

  “Damned if I know,” said Wallko. “He’s got a bug up his ass, though, no question about it. Maybe somebody got to him.”

  “You think so? He never seemed like the type.”

  “Who knows?” Wallko shrugged. “I’ve always said that it’s the true believers you have to worry about. When they get pissed off, they can jump ship in a flash.”

  “It looks like they all jumped ship. The crowd is eating it up.”

  “One thing’s for sure: I wouldn’t want to be sitting in the offices of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee right about now. Even worse, I wouldn’t want to be Joel Gottbaum.”

  “Well, you certainly won’t be their pet charity going forward.”

  “I never was. But it looks like nobody’s going to be their pet charity, at this rate.” The buzzer sounded on his desk console. “Yes?”

  “Senator Insfield is on the phone for you, sir.”

  “Put him through.” He punched several buttons simultaneously. “Hey, Bob, you’re on speakerphone. It’s just me and Linda.”

  “What the hell’s going on here, Chet?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  “Whatever it is, this is just the beginning. He’ll be wall to wall on the talk shows for weeks. I’ll tell you what, it’s a good time to be a moderate.”

  “Yeah.” Wallko laughed. “Call Bull Caldwell and let him know it’s safe to go back to Morton’s.”

  “Don’t joke around, my friend. You’d better hope that Eddie Lupin feels healthy.”

  “If Atalas has any sense he’ll appoint a Vice President now, before things escalate any further. The Senate would confirm Kaplan in a heartbeat.”

  “Wh
at makes you think he has any sense? From everything I see, the man thinks he’s been sent direct from God to straighten out the mere mortals.”

  “When push comes to shove, he’ll do the right thing.”

  “You’d better hope so. Otherwise you could inherit this mess.”

  Chapter 42

  On November 17, one week after the Supreme Court declined to hear the administration’s appeal of the Repatriation Act, Khaleem Atalas asked for television time to address the nation. Shortly after 9:00 p.m., the cameras focused on the President as he sat behind his desk in the Oval Office. He looked tired and somber.

  “Good evening, my fellow Americans. I come into your living rooms tonight to speak to you about a matter of urgent national importance.

  “For the past six months, as most of you know, there has been a backlog of immigrants detained on the border between Mexico and the United States. This situation came about due to legal and enhanced surveillance activity on the part of American citizens assisting the U.S. Border Patrol. The number of detainees has been steadily growing.

  “As of tonight, there are nearly 120,000 immigrants housed in three makeshift camps designed to hold no more than 10,000 people each. In addition to being desperately overcrowded, conditions in these camps are both violent and dangerous. We have deployed as many security personnel and health-care professionals to these sites as we could muster, but the situation is growing more unmanageable by the day.

  “From the beginning of this crisis, I have consistently maintained that the detainees are entitled to their day in court. Most legal precedents support this belief. Our Constitution provides for due process for all, whether the individuals in question are U.S. citizens or not.

  “Unfortunately, our legal system is currently too overwhelmed and understaffed to give these detainees the speedy hearings they deserve. Many of them have applied for asylum. They came to this country as a safe haven, knowing full well that their lives and the lives of their families would be endangered if they stayed at home. For some of them, I have no doubt that sending them back to their home country would amount to a death sentence.

  “For months, my administration has struggled with the best way to handle this issue. I regard the situation as not just a legal challenge, but also a moral imperative of the first order. I have repeatedly said that I regard immigration as the great moral challenge of our time, and I believe that future generations will judge us based on how we respond to this situation.

  “After intensive consultations with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, I have settled on the following course of action:

  “First, the Justice Department has reviewed the criminal records of the detainees. To the extent that we can verify their identities, we’ve determined that slightly fewer than 10,000, or between six and seven percent, have felony convictions in their home countries. The number of immigrants convicted of violent felonies is roughly 8,000. I am ordering that those detainees be deported without delay, for the sake of everyone’s safety.

  “For the rest of the detainees, I am issuing an executive order granting them amnesty for any crimes they may have committed during their illegal entry into the United States. My administration will work diligently with the Department of Homeland Security to settle these folks in communities around the country. Initially, they will be placed in sponsored homes and given assistance finding employment, so that they may begin to pay taxes, support themselves and their families, and begin the long journey toward citizenship. I will issue this order tomorrow morning.

  “I’m well aware that this is a decision that will spark controversy in some quarters. To those who disagree, I say this: The integrity of any society can be judged by the way it treats the less fortunate and disenfranchised among them. This is a moment when we are called upon to do the correct and moral thing. I will not shrink from that responsibility, and I hope that many of my fellow citizens will embrace it. Given a combination of a few unlucky breaks and the whims of the universe, any one of us could find ourselves in the place of these detainees. And if we were, we could only pray for the compassion of humanity.

  “God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.”

  The response to the President’s amnesty declaration was immediate, volcanic and explosive. Even CNN and MSNBC were cautious; while praising the executive order as a courageous form of civil disobedience, both liberal-leaning outlets gave substantial airtime to experts who claimed the order was illegal. On November 21, the deans of the country’s top 50 law schools issued a statement condemning the action. The gist of their argument was simple: By allowing the Justice Department to selectively enforce existing immigration law, the President’s order called the legitimacy of the entire legal system into question. Snap polling conducted immediately after his speech showed the public evenly divided, with those who supported the measure swayed by the morality argument. One week later, approval of the measure had dipped to 31 percent. The drumbeat of outrage continued in the media, and the streets of the capital were filled with both demonstrations and counterdemonstrations.

  On November 25, the day before Thanksgiving, Rep. Charles Barrett (R-Texas) filed the following Article of Impeachment in the House:

  Resolved. That Khaleem Mohammed Atalas, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following article of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate:

  Article of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, against Khaleem Mohammed Atalas, President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors.

  Article I

  On the occasion of his two inaugurations, Khaleem Mohammed Atalas swore to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

  Implied in this oath was fidelity to the laws enacted by the duly elected representatives of the people, the stated powers of which derive from the U.S. Constitution. Throughout this year, Khaleem Mohammed Atalas has failed to protect the natural borders of the United States of America, and he has aided and abetted those who would violate those borders. He has disregarded common standards of detainee treatment, in particular: imprisoned individuals without notifying them whether or not they have committed a crime; continued to hold them prisoner without explanation of the charges against them; denied them competent legal representation; housed them in circumstances proven to be inhumane; and withheld from them the right to a speedy trial.

  On October 7, the Congress of the United States passed legislation commonly known as the Repatriation Act, which provided for the deportation of those individuals currently detained without charges or trial on the southern border of the United States. Khaleem Mohammed Atalas has refused to follow this law, and he has falsely and repeatedly asserted executive authority against the expressed will of the people. He has continually asserted the right of the detainees to a fair and speedy trial, while making no effort to provide one for them.

  In doing this, Khaleem Mohammed Atalas has undermined the integrity of his office, has brought disrepute on the Presidency, has betrayed his trust as President, and has acted in a manner subversive of the rule of law and justice, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.

  Wherefore, Khaleem Mohammed Atalas, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.

  “How are you holding up?” asked Chet Wallko.

  “Just great,” said Joel Gottbaum. “The press is going through my garbage and tailing my every move. That’s why I’m calling you on the phone and not there in person.”

  “Well, it does look like you’re not going to be inducted into the Political Consultants Hall of Fa
me at this rate. How can I help?”

  “Give me a reading on the situation. My perspective is what you might call warped.”

  “There’s good news and bad news. On the plus side, there’s only the single article of impeachment.”

  “Thus far, you mean. It’s labelled Article One, which means they can add to it any time they get the inspiration. What’s the bad news?”

  “Your guy is guilty as hell. I mean, he did refuse to enforce the law.”

  “I’m aware of that.”

  “Can’t you reason with him?”

  “He’s on a kamikaze mission, Chet. He’s steering the ship.”

  “What about the wife? Can’t she bring him down to earth?”

  “She’s worse than he is. The two of them think they’re replaying the ‘60s. In their minds, this is a campus demonstration and they’re the leaders of the SDS.”

  “Charming. But if you want a reading on the situation, Joel, shouldn’t you be asking Lupin?”

  “Sorry, I didn’t make myself clear. I don’t need to talk to Lupin, because this thing is a slam dunk to pass in the House. I really wanted your sense of how things shake out in the Senate.”

  “Then I guess you’re taking this seriously?”

  “Damn right. Believe it or not, I think the only thing that really worries him about conviction is passing the office to the Speaker, who happens to be a conservative Republican.”

  “He also happens to be sick, so all bets are off.”

  “Not so sick that he might not do it just to spite the President. He could always serve for a while and then hand it off to one of his ideological cohorts.”

  “If he’s so worried, why the hell didn’t he appoint Marcus Kaplan as his VP? You know we would have confirmed him. Then he could have passed the baton to another snowflake liberal and ridden off into the sunset.”