Ammon Bundy once again denounced government overreach. Only this time, his views are more aligned with those of the political left than the right.
Oregonians know Bundy well. A decade ago, ranchers led an armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon. At the time, Bundy and his group were protesting the incarceration of local ranchers while also challenging federal land management practices in the West. Bundy was arrested, jailed for several months, and then acquitted on federal charges. Along the way, he became a heroic figure in some conservative circles.
Ten years on, Bundy now speaks out against ICE and the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement. At this point, few in conservative circles seem to agree with him.
Bundy published an article last November defending immigrants’ rights and slamming the federal government’s recent crackdown.
After Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents fatally shot Renee Goode in Minneapolis last month, Bundy said on air that ICE’s actions “looked like tyranny.” Weeks later, shortly after ICE agents shot and killed Alex Pretty in Minneapolis, Bundy spoke with a writer for The Atlantic. Bundy said the situation “makes me sick.”
“When it comes to the more humanitarian side, I think the left is much more right than the nationalist right,” Bundy told The Atlantic.
Bundy’s views did not suddenly shift to the left. But on immigration, his liberal belief in individual rights aligns more with those who protest ICE than those who support it. In the Atlantic Monthly article, he called Democrats “communist anarchists” and Republicans “nationalists,” suggesting both were “motivated by evil.” Politically speaking, Bundy told The Atlantic that he feels “a little lonely” at the moment.
In a video interview with reporter Wes Siler late last week, Bundy, who is running as a Democrat for the Montana Senate, spoke extensively about his views on immigration and how they differ from many on the right.
“What’s amazing to me is that they were actually deceived or deceived into thinking that masked armed men going door-to-door dragging families out and putting them in jail would somehow further their freedom,” Bundy told Schiller. “It was never going to be that. It was never going to be that way. How that could be an element or a reason for freedom, I can’t understand.”
Bundy, 50, said many on the right demonize all immigrants as violent criminals. He also noted that the United States has a long history of people coming here without permission.
“We fled Europe because of oppression, tyranny and religious oppression,” Bundy told Schiller. “We came here and a lot of times we had to secretly escape from where we came from because they didn’t allow us to leave.”
Bundy said America’s founders would “turn in their graves” knowing that the federal government now claimed the power to prevent peaceful people from coming to the United States.
“They never saw in any way the federal government restricting people or any government from coming here to live peacefully,” Bundy said. “They never realized that once they were here, they were not eligible for legal protection. They just said that people needed to go through a process to become naturalized so they could become citizens and vote.
“Look, that’s the difference. That’s where the separation is, somehow they feel like they’re not allowed here, even though they’re not citizens. They shouldn’t be protected by the law and the constitution, they shouldn’t be allowed to live here peacefully unless they’re citizens. That’s where we get into this mess. That’s where the whole nationalism thing comes from. Like, it’s all about one country, this country, this nation.” It’s not about people and individuals and protecting rights. “
Bondi emphasized that he does not support immediate granting of citizenship to immigrants with all the rights that come with it.
“I’m not here to say that a person should come here and immediately be able to vote and have all the privileges of other citizens. That’s not what I’m saying,” Bundy said. “But what I am trying to say is that a person has a right, an inalienable right, to live peacefully among us, to be protected, not to be put in jail with drugs, not to be deprived of his life, not to be separated and lose all his possessions and belongings simply because he chooses to live here.
“I wish I had a clear understanding of what was right, what was wrong and the reality that our founders set.”
Read the original article at oregonlive.com.
