We’ve been here before.
America is a violent nation. We were born in war; we spend more on weapons than any other ten countries combined — personal arsenals and standing armies. This nation is a fight and it always has been.
We’ve been here before, and we’ve made the right choice eventually. Lurching, staggering, backsliding, stalling, practically falling over but at least pointed in the right direction. Recognizing the humanity of the Black people we enslaved took a five-year war and two Constitutional amendments, but we did it. Suffragettes spent nearly a century fighting for women’s right to vote. That didn’t take a war, just an amendment to the Constitution, but we did it. Dismantling Jim Crow laws and all the roadblocks to Black voting took decades. That didn’t take a war or an amendment to the Constitution; we passed the Voting Rights Act and the Supreme Court eventually struck down its own segregation of ‘separate but equal.’ We did it. See how it’s getting easier? Less traumatic?
Legal progress depends on moral empathy. Or sympathy, or compassion, or shared humanity, or seeing your neighbor in a wounded Samaritan. Whatever you want to call it. For this post, I’m going to call it empathy and I define it as the ability to recognize humanity in our fellow human beings, regardless of their skin color, gender presentation or sexual orientation, religion, birthplace, and their native language.
America has had concentration camps before. During World War II, On February 19, 1942 (about three months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor), President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an Executive Order to gather up Japanese immigrants because they were thought to be a threat. The real reason was racism, but it’s easier to sell things like this to the American public if you call it a safety measure. (Sound familiar? I hope so; I hope you see the parallels.)
They weren’t death camps. America didn’t build gas chambers. These were just (just!) mass prisons to vent America’s racist anger.
The concentration camps didn’t last long (thank God). A little less than three years after they were established, on December 18, 1944, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. government could not continue to detail a citizen who was “concededly loyal” to the United States. Since there was not, and never had been, evidence that the people gathered into the concentration camps were spying for the Japanese, the government started releasing these innocent people.
There is not, and never has been, evidence that undocumented immigrants as a group are a threat to the United States of America. There is a lot of propaganda, fear-mongering, lies, and hysteria that claims that undocumented immigrants are a threat. I don’t have the tools to counter widespread, well-funded propaganda. If you want to get real about the impact that undocumented immigrants have on the USA, you’ll have to turn off the rightwing propaganda for at least 90 days and let your brain recalibrate out of its constant state of unreal agitation. It’s your choice; marinating in propaganda is a choice you make.
To fight against the Republican attack on undocumented immigrants, we’re telling stories. The hope is that the people who are believing propaganda will see the humanity and feel some empathy. I read an article that some conservatives are calling this ‘weaponized empathy.’ As a pushback against ‘weaponized fear’, I think empathy is a valid tool. It’s the only one we have left, since facts and rationality don’t work. So here are three examples that I hope kindle some empathy.
“In a notification sent to Congress over the weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed that a 75-year-old Cuban national named Isidro Perez died while in ICE custody on June 26. The death, which appears to have been caused by a heart attack, is “still under investigation,” according to the notification, which was sent our way by a congressional aide. Obviously, the man’s age immediately makes it look odd that he was in ICE detention in the first place. But here’s something else that’s striking about this case: According to the ICE note, the man was first paroled into the United States in 1966. Yes, you read that right. The man has been here for almost 60 years—and he appears to have been around 16 years old when he first arrived from Fidel Castro’s Cuba.” Source.
A 6-year-old Honduran boy with leukemia has been in immigration detention with his mother and 9-year-old sister since May when federal agents arrested them as they left an immigration hearing. The Honduran family entered the country legally last fall seeking asylum. Lawyers fear their deportation is imminent and are suing for their release, worried about the boy’s health. Leukemia in children requires consistent treatment over a period of years to provide a good shot at long-term survival. That care would be disrupted, the family’s lawyer says, if the family is sent back to Honduras. “This is a family that did everything right,” Elora Mukherjee, a lawyer for the family and director of Columbia Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, said. Source.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Marine Corps veteran Adrian Clouatre doesn’t know how to tell his children where their mother went after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained her last month. When his nearly 2-year-old son Noah asks for his mother before bed, Clouatre just tells him, “Mama will be back soon.” When his 3-month-old, breastfeeding daughter Lyn is hungry, he gives her a bottle of baby formula instead. He’s worried how his newborn will bond with her mother absent skin-to-skin contact. His wife, Paola, is one of tens of thousands of people in custody and facing deportation as the Trump administration pushes for immigration officers to arrest 3,000 people a day. Source.
We’ve been here before. To those who voted for Trump, to those who are registered as Republicans, to those who used to believe the propaganda, you are the ones who will need to stop this. The rest of us can help, but most of this responsibility is yours. If you choose not to stop it, the blame is yours as well.
Amendment XIV to the U.S. Constitution: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. [source]
Happy Fourth of July, all.
Everyone is welcome to comment, but my questions for this post are directed to the conservatives who wanted mass deportations. You won. I acknowledge that. There was an election, and you won fair and square. You control the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Supreme Court. I understand the lower courts are still trying to stop the Project 2025 Agenda, but once those cases get to the Supreme Court, the Agenda moves forward. The point is that you are not the underdogs; you are not the victims; you are not fighting a defensive war. You won.
Is there room in the mass deportation initiative for humanitarian delays when physical injury is going to happen? Like the family whose son is getting chemotherapy for cancer — can they have a six month delay? The breastfeeding mother — can she have 30 days to wean her baby? Is that okay with you? Enough to call your elected representatives and suggest that, now that you’ve won and you’re in charge, it would be okay to ease up on the cruelty factor?
My other question is what does society look like once you’ve deported everyone you want to? I only ever hear about the hatred. I don’t hang out in conservative spaces, and the only thing that filters over to my part of the political sphere is the hatred and anger. What’s the positive? Paint me a picture of what you believe society will be like, how it will be better, once you’ve deported everyone the conservatives want to deport?
Please keep it civil. I’m going to freeze the comment thread in a couple days, because I imagine this will devolve into a shouting match eventually.
Wheat & Tares 
Deportations and expulsions have long been happening. Biden, between March 2020 and March 2023, expelled (not the same as deportation, which is done through a more formal legal process) 2.8 million people from the US under Title 42. Biden also brought down the number of undocumented immigrants entering the US significantly toward the end of his term. I support some sense of orderliness to immigration and realize that deportations have to happen.
What I don’t support is the lies and racism about immigrants. I don’t support sending them to detention camps and prisons with no charges or convictions against them. I don’t support deporting immigrants who came to the US as kids. I don’t support the thuggish unconstitutional tactics ICE uses. I don’t support the deportation of legal residents and asylees without cause. I don’t support the deportation of students. I don’t support the abduction, detainment, and deportation of legal residents simply because they said something that the administration disagree with. I don’t support the demonization of immigrants as criminals. I don’t support the breaking up of families. I don’t support the deportation of citizen children or any citizens for that matter. I don’t support the reversal of Biden’s program to allow a more streamlined way for migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and other countries to apply for asylum. I support easier ways for immigrants to become citizens. I don’t support the mass deportation of 12~ million undocumented migrants. Reagan gave amnesty to 3 million undocumented migrants. Millions who are here should be given an easier pathway to naturalization.
US total fertility rates are below replacement levels. We need immigrants.
Not sure I’ve read the true interpretation of “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” Not sure it is possible to accurately get into the minds of those that wrote it.
My personal feelings on the way immigration is being handled right now is over-the-top political bologna and a huge number of human beings lives are being negatively impacted by it. Trump and those that closely surround him and provide him policy council don’t seem to be the least bit empathetic to the human element. Just get it done at any cost. Personally I’m very disappointed with how it is being done but not at all surprised based on those in charge.
Future history books will look back at these specific actions as a dark and appalling time in our nation’s history, alongside Japanese internment, McCarthyism, the destruction of the Native Americans, lynching, etc.
I don’t love your theme for the 4th of July but I’ll bite: Be careful what you wish for…if the US really follows through with mass deportation, our labor market is in big trouble. Who do you think works the farms in central California for example? Who works in the kitchens of restaurants or laundry rooms of hotels? If you could snap your finger and magically make all the illegal/undocumented folks suddenly disappear, there would be shocking consequences for US business and the US economy.
side note: every spring and every fall for the last seven years (we bought the house in 2018) we’ve had a small crew from Central America knock on our door and offer to do tree trimming and other landscaping work. And so twice a year we could count on them to help us with work I can’t really do (I ain’t climbing that tree). For the first time in seven years they didn’t show up this Spring. And they aren’t answering my texts. I think we all know why. Sad. They worked hard and I paid them a fair+ fee for their efforts. I knew the names of a couple of their kids. All gone. I guess this is seen as progress by some of you?
Having trouble signing in to comment today.
My comment is that our (’The Lord’s’) church has not spoken out publicly against the injustice and atrocities. The ‘obeying the law’ comments are meaningless since both slavery and the holocaust were ‘legal’
Don’t even get me started on the ’supplement’ to 38.6.23, which was snuck into the handbook without even its own number (in hopes nobody would notice???)
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The performative cruelty shocks at least my conscience, but as others have duly noted the cruelty is the point. I believe all of us who have any influence should work together to enact immigration reforms including a path to citizenship. ICE arguably is simply (and very broadly) enforcing existing laws and removing people who do not have a legal claim to remain in the US. The US immigration laws need to be much more clear and explicit about what process is due to noncitizens, and provide robust protections for vulnerable individuals.
I would also point out that none of the citations to English law in the Trump v. CASA opinion mention that the UK abolished automatic birthright citizenship by statute in 1983. Notwithstanding the 14th Amendment, this US Supreme Court would likely uphold a federal statute (not a EO) that did the same.
As a retired educator, there were always teachers who complained about that “one” student who disrupted their class, and if they could just get rid of them, life would be so much better. What I found out was that if you did get rid of that student, there was always another that they would begin to complain about. It never ends.
I think the same holds true with our society. There is always that group we seem to need to get rid of. If we look at our history, it’s been the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, or the blacks. You could put in people now from any number of nations, but it will always end up being another nation or group in a few years.
Yes, we were a nation that was born of fighting. We changed everything then by becoming citizens instead of subjects through that fight. Many other nations followed our example. I think today we need to ask what it means to be a citizen of our country. It wasn’t based on ethnicity or nationality but on an idea. I think we’ve worked to define that idea a bit over the years, but other nations, in following our revolution, took bigger steps with this idea of freedom and liberty. Maybe it’s time to confront some of the problems we wrote into the Constitution and make it a country with individual liberty for all instead of liberty for some.
There are countries around the world that recognize the power of the government to make life better for all instead of being an agent of repression. If we want wealth to be in the hands of a few, we should keep doing what we’re doing but if we want a stronger society for all, with might have to change some things. Passing the “big beautiful bill” is a step in the wrong direction.
I am appalled by what is happening. Truly appalled. When trying to really listen to people who voted for Trump (my husband) the response is that Congress has refused to pass legislation that would fix these problems. So Trump is forcing them to face the lack of legislation. I think we call our representatives and senators and tell them that now is the time to work together and pass legislation that protects immigrants. The things happening are awful. The blaming of immigrants and generalization and racial profiling…all disgusts me. My heart breaks for the harm that is being done.
ECS, ICE is arguably violating many state laws with their raids and also the constitution itself. Warrantless entries into private domiciles? Deportations of citizen children? Deportations to foreign prisons??? Wearing face-coverings and refusing to show badges or ID??? Many of these ICE agents are heartless racist thugs who target the most vulnerable. Your appeal to ICE simply carrying out the law is moot given that the administration in power is headed by a criminal insurrectionist who has installed many criminals around him and has already abused his power by flouting court orders. He is saved by a thuggish and illegitimate Supreme Court which consists of at least two brazenly corrupt justices who accept bribes and support insurrection and two more whose presence there is completely illegitimate. Kavanaugh has a history of sexual assault and Coney Barrett was rushed through with hardly any vetting right before an election. Your comment is nothing but spineless, mealy-mouthed appeals to unjust laws. Stand up for justice!!!! Don’t be a feckless coward.
Brad D – great comments, thank you. Especially your first one. We need procedures and laws that preserve order and recognize the humanity of everyone involved. Those are not mutually exclusive goals. Immigrants are people, human beings, and must be treated as such or we lose our OWN humanity.
As noted, the cruelty is the point. The cruelty makes people afraid, and this regime/administration is governing by fear. It’s irrational, unpredictable, and working exactly as designed.
Instereo – good comparison. There will always be someone ‘causing problems.’ And when the Republicans get rid of this particular group of people causing (mostly made up and exaggerated) problems, another group will be targeted. Scapegoats never entirely disappear.
Megan – in early 2024, there was bipartisan legislation proposed on the topic of immigration. Trump (who was not president at that time and held no office) told Congressional Republicans to not cooperate. Sink the legislation, Trump instructed them. Trump wanted to campaign on the immigration issue, and having bipartisan legislation passed months before the election would have lessened the fear and anger he could stir up. Trump is the reason there isn’t legislation. Run a google search for ‘2024 bipartisan immigration reform’ and you’ll find the news stories. One of Trump’s tactics is to create the problem, and then solve it in the cruelest way possible.
Megan,
Any such legislation would have to overcome a presidential veto. Trump is fully in control of the branches of government and theoretically holds more power than any president in history. He has certainly breeched more constitutional boundaries. The media has been tamed and the universities and academia seem to be kowtowing. But I am fairly certain his supporters will continue to blame democrats, immigrants and others for any and all problems.
A family member works in America as a research scientist. He leads a team mostly foreigners. There are about 5 places in the world where this research is being done.
Their funding has been cut and they are all looking for jobs, because they do not feel safe. America will no longer be doing this research.
So who will pick America’s crops? Who will work in your hospitals? Who will milk you cows.
From the other end Who will trade with a country that is not keeping its climate change commitments. Are the Texas floods usual or extreme. Consequences of climate change. And who will trade with a country that does not keep its commitments, and tries to bully you instead.
Our PM is giving a speech this week on the defence agreement between Australia and America. He is expected to emphasise our sovereignty and independence.
I am as liberal as they come on most issues, but I am surrounded by Maga “conservatives” (there is nothing conservative about constantly ignoring the constitution). Since no conservatives or magas seem to be commenting here, I will take it upon myself to speak for them. Most of the magas in my circle voted for trump because he was going to deport the millions of illegal violent criminals that were apparently pouring over Biden’s “open borders” and ruining everything (they believed this was actually happening). They believe Trump is following through on this now. Trump is taking it upon himself to deport all the”violent criminals ” because no one else will do it. Describing the situation any differently is “fake news .” When you are in a cult, the facts don’t matter. Additionally, a lot of the trump voters around me simply aren’t paying attention to what is going on. They got their guy in there and now they figure they don’t have to worry about anything.
Logistically speaking, I highly doubt that it is at all possible to deport 11.7 million (the most recent estimate by the Center for Migration Studies of New York) immigrants currently in the US. Trump has ended asylum programs and increased troops along the US Mexican border. But this has only made the number of easy-to-deport migrants even fewer. So far, mass deportations haven’t even happened. In fact, deportation numbers have remained steady with Biden’s numbers. In his first three months of Trump’s second term, he managed to deport only 72,000. If he keeps up that pace, he is looking at about 864,000 deportations over 4 years. Maybe he manages to double immigration enforcement. Still that would put us at about 1.5 million deportations. In all likelihood, he will probably find it increasingly harder to deport migrants as time moves on.
mat, I hear that you are making the argument that people you know would make if they were represented here. But do they know that here in Occupied Los Angeles a good number of the people who are being rounded up are the easy to locate workers who collect at home improvement stores? Yes, those “violent criminals” who do hard work — often outside in our 90˚ temperatures — for less than the minimum wage they could get at McDonalds if they had SS#s? Do they know that there are now a significant number of cases in which “employers” have engaged such workers and then refused to pay them offering instead to report them to ICE? Do they know that ICE agents are showing up at elementary schools to “interview” children with no advocate present? Or that they threaten teachers and administrators who attempt to advocate for the kids? Do they know that when people are apprehended they go to facilities that elected state and federal representatives are not allowed to inspect and that family members are not notified of their whereabouts?
In my own thoroughly White, American-born middle class family my American-born son-in-law with a Hispanic surname and Hispanic appearance now carries his passport when he uses public transport to get to work. We have no idea if badgeless ICE agents who wear balaclavas to conceal their identity would respect or even acknowledge his passport. We fear his being rounded up and being one more of the “disappeared” (borrowing a phrase from Pinochet’s military junta in Chile because that’s what America has become) who go to unidentified facilities in this country or some other country. We fear his 3yo daughter growing up without her American citizen father and we have no idea what recourse or resources we would have to deal with such a situation if elected officials are rendered impotent.
I wonder if that would matter to your associates. I don’t charge you with knowing the answer to that question but it keeps me up at night.
alice,
I would say that the Trump voters I am referring to are willfully ignorant of the facts you eloquently laid out (thank you grizzerbear55 for illustrating my point). The funny thing is, I live in a “rural” area (by national standards) that reliably votes Republican even though it’s in a blue state (I could go on about how they benefit from all the Democratic policies, but still complain, but I won’t here). We have a huge Latino immigrant population which is crucial to our local economy, yet the trumpers still voted for Trump and all his down-ballot synchofants. It’s not enough to explain how our local economy would devastated and families destroyed if Trump were to deport the amount of people he is talking about. They would need to be profoundly and deeply impacted personally in a negative way to see it. For example, THEY lose their business, THEY lose half their cherry harvest, THEIR grandchild is deported mid-cancer treatments. As long as they personally are ok, “F those people, God bless America. Sound about right, grizzer?
grizzerbear, does your love of America and our heritage and traditions include the rule of law and due process or are you one of the people who love the US Constitution while also holding the belief that it only 2 includes 2 amendments?
Grizz – I’ve deleted your last couple comments as spam. You’re off topic. The post is on a specific part of the mass deportation, and it asks specific questions. Your standard “I hate liberals” comments are off topic.
Edit: I deleted all your comments, and the other comments that replied solely to your comments. They are all off topic. Do you even read posts? Or do you just use your canned lines as soon as you identify a topic?