The latest city to see a wave of immigration raids is Charlotte, North Carolina, where federal officials have borrowed the name of the classic children's book Charlotte's Web for their operation. One person who isn't a fan of the move? Author EB White's granddaughter. He "certainly didn't believe in masked men, in unmarked cars, raiding people's homes and workplaces without IDs or summons," says Martha White, per CNN. "He didn't condone fearmongering."
Department of Homeland Security officials didn't just borrow the title—they were leaning into it. Top Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, a native of North Carolina, quoted from the book in a weekend post on social media. "'Wherever the wind takes us. High, low. Near, far. East, west. North, south. We take to the breeze, we go as we please,'" he tweeted, citing the book. In his own voice, he added: "This time, the breeze hit Charlotte like a storm. From border towns to the Queen City, our agents go where the mission calls."
Martha White, however, cited the book's themes of generosity and compassion, quoting the character Charlotte: "By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a little. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that." She argued that the federal operation's use of her grandfather's story runs counter to the spirit of the work. In a post at Law Dork, Chris Geidner cites a 1940 essay by EB White on freedom—"I am deeply suspicious of people who are beginning to adjust to fascism..."—and makes the case that the author was warning us against people like Bovino.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
