I have updated with some extra material.
I don’t
usually write political posts, at least not intentionally, but as David French
states two important acts in times like this is to care for the vulnerable and
speak the truth. Two days ago I posted a small piece on caring for immigrants. In
that posting I linked to an earlier post I wrote in 2016, The
Federation of American Immigration Reform: abortion & population control
merges with anti-immigration. In my posting I linked to an article written
by the hate-watch group the Southern Poverty Law Center about the Federation
of American Immigration Reform (Fair). I pointed out that immigration group
began as an anti-population, pro-abortion and pro-eugenics group. It was racist
at its core. It still is.
Here are
some quotes from a SPLC paper on the racist’s statements and actions of FAIR’s
past founder, John Tanton, and present president Dan Stein:
“Do we leave it to individuals to decide that they are the
intelligent ones who should have more kids? And more troublesome, what about
the less intelligent, who logically should have less? Who is going to break the
bad news [to less intelligent individuals], and how will it be implemented?” –
John Tanton, letter to eugenicist Robert K. Graham (now deceased), Sept. 18,
1996
“I’ve come to the point of view that for European-American
society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a
clear one at that.” – John Tanton, letter to eugenicist and ecology professor
Garrett Hardin (now deceased), Dec. 10, 1993”
“I blame ninety-eight percent of responsibility for this
country’s immigration crisis on Ted Kennedy and his political allies, who
decided some time back in 1958, earlier perhaps, that immigration was a great
way to retaliate against Anglo-Saxon dominance and hubris, and the immigration
laws from the 1920s were just this symbol of that, and it’s a form of
revengism, or revenge, that these forces continue to push the immigration
policy that they know full well are [sic] creating chaos and will continue to
create chaos down the line.” – FAIR President Dan Stein”
Today I read
the whole article about FAIR written by the SPCL. I may have read it all before
but I don’t remember. Toward the end of SPLC’s article they write about
some of the people who were connected to FAIR and were then in the 2016 Trump
administration. A man, Tom Homan, who was the 2016 head of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now in Trump’s new 2025 administration as the
border czar. His connection to FAIR was as a senior fellow in their legal
department.
MNS news recently reported that in 2917 he angered immigrant advocates by "by putting together his ICE office with top appointments for operatives from groups like CIS and the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
Also The Hill reporting on the actions of Homan wrote of two different appointees from both FAIR and one of their sister organizations, CIS. Author Rafeal Bernal writes:
"Jon Feere, formerly a legal policy analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), has been hired as a special adviser to Thomas D. Homan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to CNN.
And the former executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Julie Kirchner, was hired as an adviser to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan."
Homan is still a member of FAIR through his official position, as Senior Fellow, in IRIL the legal division of FAIR,
The problem
with too many of these new candidates for various positions in the coming administration
is their connection to racist groups. Tied to this is their own racists actions
because of those connections. Their viewpoint is not layered with any kind of
mercy, thoughtfulness, generosity or as Karen Swallow Prior would say
imagination. How do you tend to the needy, even the illegal needy. They are not
all the same, they are not all equally guilty. Some are children, some are
frightened like children.
8 comments:
So far we are just getting a small glimpse of the changes we are going to see and the price we are going to pay for letting Trump become POTUS. There are still 10s of millions of people celebrating he won. And millions more still shrugging, firmly believing that both candidates were equally bad.
In California they couldn't even bring themselves to voting to abolish slavery in the prison system (in California!); even though the measure ran completely unopposed. That should give you some idea of the mood the Nation is in.
Jodie Gallo
Los Angeles, CA
"How do you tend to the needy, even the illegal needy. They are not all the same, they are not all equally guilty."
Isn't that the situation we currently have? Where all immigrants are treated essentially the same? Shouldn't the immigrant who follows the rules, be treated differently than one who doesn't? Shouldn't an immigrant who has fled to avoid being punished for a crime be treated differently than one who's not committed a crime?
I'm not speaking from any political side here, but it seems like the greatest failure in terms of immigration is the failure to take the time to vet individuals and deal with people as individuals.
Yes Craig, that was part of my thought. Rounding up the Dreamers who have educated themselves, have jobs, etc. is I believe sinful. But there is talk of simply deporting all. We do need better vetting and immigration judges. People fleeing persecution need help. No, criminals should not stay but many others should.
Viola, I agree that broad brush solutions are likely not the answer and that enforcement of employment laws regarding employing illegal aliens is a part of it as well. I agree that there is room for some sort of long term legal status for some, although I oppose citizenship for those who've entered illegally. I agree that people fleeing persecution need help, although I'm not sure that it should extend after the danger has passed or if people regularly return to the places they were persecuted. It all comes down to, IMO, more effort to deal with people as individuals and not as groups.
Trump made it abundantly clear that his approach would be the broad stroke; and that is what America voted for. Nobody gets to say they didn't know or didn't mean it. Not only that, but his party scuttled every attempt to find and pay for another solution; so that he would have the said mandate to use the broad stroke. They did it out in the clear.
So this is what it's coming down to: Dreamers are going to be rounded up and put in relocation camps while somebody figures out what country they can deport them to. And in the mean time they will be treated like slaves. Children are going to get separated from their parents most likely never to be re-united again - like the last time when Trump's wife wore a jacket saying she didn't care - only in much greater numbers. Economic and political refugees will be rounded up and eventually sent back to whatever misery it was they came here to escape. The jobs they've all been doing will be available to US citizens again; mostly to black people, according to Trump, and - rejoice - America will have been made great again.
It's not up for debate. Not anymore.
If this doesn't happen, how will you respond?
@Craig Depending on how it comes about, I'll let you off the hook.
I'm not even sure what this is supposed to mean. Are you suggesting that you are incapable of being wrong about this? Are you suggesting that you will redefine whatever does happen during the next four years in such a way that it fits your narrative?
My experience is that when people of any ideological stripe start to make predictions like the one's you've made, that those predictions rarely come True. I'm merely asking how you will respond if, for example, we don't see "relocation camps" or people "treated like slaves".
I fail to see how you can let me off of a hook that I am not on, and how you can act as if you would not be on the hook if your predictions do not come True.
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