Trump’s war against undocumented immigrants is unnecessary.

What’s infuriating is that Trump’s war against the undocumented is unnecessary.

So this is what America has come to? Apparently, we’re now a nation where:

• In Seattle, agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement take a 23-year-old Mexican man into custody despite his paperwork proving that he had been granted work authorization under the deferred-deportation program. Daniel Ramirez Medina was brought to this country at age 7 and twice qualified for the deferral program, known as DACA. “It doesn’t matter, because you weren’t born in this country,” one of the agents told Ramirez.

• An El Paso transgender woman goes to an El Paso courthouse seeking protection from an alleged abuser and is arrested by a half-dozen ICE agents in the courthouse and taken to a detention center. “In all our years, none of us can recall an incident where immigration authorities made their presence known inside a courtroom in this courthouse, and especially not in a courtroom that is reserved for victims of domestic violence,” El Paso County Attorney Jo Anne Bernal told the El Paso Times.

• The Trump administration, according to the Associated Press, is considering a proposal to mobilize as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants living not only in the four border states but also in seven adjoining states. The Department of Homeland Security insists the 11-page draft memo is a “very early, pre-decisional draft that never made it to the secretary.” Perhaps that’s true, but it looks precisely like plans for the “deportation force” President Trump called for during his campaign.

We knew stepped-up raids and immigrant intimidation were coming; scapegoating immigrants was a Trump campaign centerpiece. Gov. Greg Abbott also has declared war this legislative session on undocumented immigrants and so-called sanctuary cities. Their combined efforts mean that Texas residents are in the cross-hairs of more ambitious ICE raids and are at risk of being turned over to ICE if they happen to get stopped for some minor traffic violation.

Both the White House and the governor are demanding that local law enforcement honor the federal-local partnership program known as 287(g). The program gives local police, sheriff’s deputies and state troopers the authority to assist in detecting immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally as a regular part of their law-enforcement duties.

So far, Abbott has tried to make an example of Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez, who announced in January that her office would not honor ICE detainer requests if the person in detention has not been accused of a serious crime. Abbott retaliated by terminating more than $1 million in state criminal-justice grants to Travis County. He also threatened to look for ways to remove Hernandez from office.

So far, the spotlight has been on Travis County, but soon the focus will shift to Harris County, where Sheriff Ed Gonzalez campaigned on the issue of terminating his office’s involvement with 287(g). What’s happened in Washington and in Austin has made it more difficult for the newly elected sheriff to honor that campaign promise, as his rambling response a few days ago to questions from KUHF-FM listeners underscored. He, in essence, said he wanted to end it, he had to consider all the stakeholders — the answer went on and on but reached no clear conclusion.

We encourage and fully expect Gonzalez to honor his campaign commitment. To do so may be costly, but to surrender to anti-immigrant hysteria is even costlier. Arresting people due to their immigration status would discourage victims or witnesses of crimes from cooperating with investigations. As Houston’s new police chief, Art Acevedo, pointed out recently to the New York Times, “I would rather have my officers focused on going after violent criminals and people breaking into homes than going after nannies and cooks.”

What’s infuriating is that Trump’s war against the immigrant, aided and abetted by the likes of the Texas governor, is unnecessary. Comprehensive immigration reform, including well-run guest-worker programs and a pathway to legal status for long-term, law-abiding residents, would solve the problems that so anger those who decry undocumented immigrants. Obviously, sensible immigration reform is not going to happen as long as Donald Trump occupies the White House.

Meanwhile, Houston and Harris County residents need to support local law enforcement, particularly Sheriff Gonzalez, who’ll face tremendous pressure when and if he rejects 287(g). This city of immigrants is bigger and braver than that. We must not surrender to bullying and fear.