Donald Trump and maga Republicans anti-Christian policies created to intimidate legal immigrants
Echo opinion letter published in the South Pasadena Review:
But in particular, Donald Trump’s cruel, anti-Christian style of immigration enforcement has left notions of human decency trampled in the dust and bleeding at the pores.
What triggered these dark reflections was Andy Lippman’s excellent article of July 11 about the concerns of a Boyle Heights resident in the face of Donald Trump’s push to intimidate Latino populations via ICE enforcement actions.
Despite the purported goal, which no one should have a problem with — of prioritizing the deportation of undocumented persons with criminal convictions for serious offenses — ICE has instead indiscriminately targeted Latinos based on skin color, accent and the speaking of Spanish, which criteria have swept up, not only the undocumented (“illegal aliens” is a misnomer meant to insinuate someone is less than human; and, once and for all, it is not a crime to be in this country without proper documentation, but rather a civil infraction), but also permanent residents and even U.S. citizens.
Indeed, Lipman’s friend is worried about her parents even though they are permanent residents.
But ICE’s abominable stalking tactics have spooked not only working-class Latinos.
I have Latino friends who live in South Pasadena, professionals (doctors and lawyers) who are sufficiently concerned that they are carrying their passports when they fly. Further, naturalized citizens born elsewhere are looking to get dual citizenship as a “backup.”
This is indeed a sad state of affairs. From a personal standpoint, the situation is galling. My family has been in California for 125 years. I served as an Army medic during the Vietnam era. Yet, policies promulgated by a president and his political advisor (Stephen Miller), neither of whom ever served in uniform, and neither of whom would even be in this country but for the American historical tradition of chain migration, are spreading terror and uncertainty among my Latino brethren.
And aren’t facilities like “Alligator Alcatraz” reminiscent of WWII era prisons like Manzanar and equally based on meritless justifications for rounding up, in the great majority of cases, hardworking, law-abiding individuals❓ It seems that the notion of progress in civil rights for people of color in this country since the 1960s has been, at least in part, an illusion, now metamorphosing into a nightmare.
From Agustin Medina in
South Pasadena
How Decency Disappears With Trump's Actions,
This year has seen a series of events unfold that I never could have imagined occurring in my lifetime, each more jarring than the last. Not distant concerns reflected in daily news cycles, but events that affect my own sense of security and well-being and that of friends and family.
The source of the current turmoil, uncertainty and instability is Donald Trump who refuses to accept any limits on his executive authority. Via executive orders and other means, we have seen efforts by the president to punish political opponents and critics simply for disagreeing with him; downsizing federal agencies and programs that enforce civil rights policies; labeling media outlets critical of him as “enemy of the people”; the purging of career civil servants in an effort to replace expertise with personal loyalty; labeling judges who rule against him as “corrupt”; and efforts to undermine corporate and governmental goals of equity, inclusion and diversity in favor of a narrow and exclusionary vision of America as white-dominant.
This year has seen a series of events unfold that I never could have imagined occurring in my lifetime, each more jarring than the last. Not distant concerns reflected in daily news cycles, but events that affect my own sense of security and well-being and that of friends and family.
The source of the current turmoil, uncertainty and instability is Donald Trump who refuses to accept any limits on his executive authority. Via executive orders and other means, we have seen efforts by the president to punish political opponents and critics simply for disagreeing with him; downsizing federal agencies and programs that enforce civil rights policies; labeling media outlets critical of him as “enemy of the people”; the purging of career civil servants in an effort to replace expertise with personal loyalty; labeling judges who rule against him as “corrupt”; and efforts to undermine corporate and governmental goals of equity, inclusion and diversity in favor of a narrow and exclusionary vision of America as white-dominant.
What triggered these dark reflections was Andy Lippman’s excellent article of July 11 about the concerns of a Boyle Heights resident in the face of Donald Trump’s push to intimidate Latino populations via ICE enforcement actions.
Despite the purported goal, which no one should have a problem with — of prioritizing the deportation of undocumented persons with criminal convictions for serious offenses — ICE has instead indiscriminately targeted Latinos based on skin color, accent and the speaking of Spanish, which criteria have swept up, not only the undocumented (“illegal aliens” is a misnomer meant to insinuate someone is less than human; and, once and for all, it is not a crime to be in this country without proper documentation, but rather a civil infraction), but also permanent residents and even U.S. citizens.
Indeed, Lipman’s friend is worried about her parents even though they are permanent residents.
But ICE’s abominable stalking tactics have spooked not only working-class Latinos.
I have Latino friends who live in South Pasadena, professionals (doctors and lawyers) who are sufficiently concerned that they are carrying their passports when they fly. Further, naturalized citizens born elsewhere are looking to get dual citizenship as a “backup.”
This is indeed a sad state of affairs. From a personal standpoint, the situation is galling. My family has been in California for 125 years. I served as an Army medic during the Vietnam era. Yet, policies promulgated by a president and his political advisor (Stephen Miller), neither of whom ever served in uniform, and neither of whom would even be in this country but for the American historical tradition of chain migration, are spreading terror and uncertainty among my Latino brethren.
And aren’t facilities like “Alligator Alcatraz” reminiscent of WWII era prisons like Manzanar and equally based on meritless justifications for rounding up, in the great majority of cases, hardworking, law-abiding individuals❓ It seems that the notion of progress in civil rights for people of color in this country since the 1960s has been, at least in part, an illusion, now metamorphosing into a nightmare.
From Agustin Medina in
South Pasadena
Labels: Agustin Medina, Aligator Alcatraz, ICE, Latinos, South Pasadena Review
posted by Juliana L'Heureux | 6:53 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home