Paris is warm on the autumn night we visit. My wife and sister-in-law and I wait patiently for the Eiffel Tower to light up and sparkle as it does on the hour. Not a large crowd. Although the darkness pushes us all to the light like the draw of a campfire. Time stops. Then the tower begins to sparkle. A shared wonder comes from the crowd and echoes around the grassy fields. The tower is mesmerizing. My wife and sister-in-law embrace in joy. My oh my.

After a while, I look below the Eiffel Tower into the dark. Rows of blankets are spread out on the asphalt path. And hundreds of plastic Eiffel Towers blink and wink and dance in enticement as young men hawk their wares.

The blankets are a necessity because they allow the trinkets to be folded up and tucked out of sight when the police patrol by. And after the police are gone, out the plastic Eiffel Towers come again.

“Do you want to buy?”

A tough gig selling trinkets under the Eiffel Tower with one eye always cocked for the police and the other scanning the crowd to make a sale. Yup, there are easer things to do than to sell Eiffel Towers under the Eiffel Tower.

It turns out the French police conducted a large raid in late September before our visit: “French police have seized 20 tonnes of miniature Eiffel Towers in a crackdown on the illegal souvenir trade in Paris. . . But those selling the miniature Eiffel Towers are often migrants forced to flee from police checks.” The Guardian, September 20, 2018.

Really? Undocumented immigrants? Quelle surprise!

Roland Barthes, a French philosopher and theorist, wrote an essay years ago on the Eiffel Tower. He spoke of how the Eiffel Tower dominates the skyline of Paris.

“And it’s true that you must take endless precautions, in Paris, not to see the Eiffel Tower; whatever the season, through mist and cloud, on overcast days or in sunshine, in rain — wherever you are, whatever the landscape of roofs, domes, or branches separating you from it, the Tower is there.” The Eiffel Tower, and Other Mythologies, Roland Barthes, translated by Richard Howard.

And so it is.

There’s the Eiffel Tower in the distance, just like Barthes claimed. Unmistakably majestic.

And the folks at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower selling trinkets?

Not a one in sight.

And the 11,100,000 undocumented immigrants in the United States (according to the Pew Research Center)?

Nope, can’t see them.

And the 40,000 undocumented immigrants in my home state of Iowa?

I certainly can’t see them.

And my undocumented immigrant neighbor and wife and children who milk the cows and serve the fries and babysit our kids?

No way can I see them.

Of course.

Anything else would require looking under the tower.

Joe