Deplorably, legalized racial profiling continues today.
As we come together to speak out against these horrendous actions at the border, it is important that we also examine why these children and families have evoked such strong emotional response from the public, and with white liberals specifically.
The lyrics have a far more complex origin than Trump’s use might imply. The poem originated in the 1960s from a soul singer and social activist in Chicago, Oscar Brown Jr. Its appropriation as a tool to drum up fear about immigrants has turned heads; some of Brown’s family are asking Trump to stop using it. And now, people are reading deeper into the president’s fixation with the parable.
Anti-immigrant organizations like FAIR, CIS, NumbersUSA, and IRLI, all of which have ties to white nationalists, have long taken a hardline stance that the federal government should dramatically restrict immigration and make life as difficult as possible for undocumented immigrants already living here. Their harsh viewpoints make no exception for young undocumented individuals who have been living in the U.S. since childhood.
Tactics once reserved for violent criminals are now targeting undocumented youth and parents.
This latest move is one of many recent efforts by both the Trump administration and the GOP to target Black immigrants.
Moderator's Note: Somali and Vietnamese immigrant communities are also now experiencing deportations.
We need to radically change the way we see our history otherwise we end up with incorrect assumptions that permeate the way we think. U.S. immigration policy historically had injustice built into it creating untold human suffering. Moreover, it is difficult to separate immigration policy from foreign policy. No one wants to leave their homes unless it is a refugee situation.
The Trump administration’s first moves on immigration enforcement represent an unprecedented hard-line position, envisioning thousands of new agents, enlisting local police as immigration enforcers, making virtually anyone a priority for deportation, bypassing immigration courts, and, of course, ordering the construction of the infamous wall along the Mexican border. And then there is the president’s own rhetoric equating immigrants with criminals.
President Donald Trump wants to impose a police state on undocumented immigrants. Workplace raids - sometimes called 'silent raids' - have been a mainstay of immigration enforcement, will likely ramp up. Now - predawn raids, arrests and deportation of undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of the most minor criminal offenses, and stops of dark-complexioned motorists and pedestrians - will become the norm, in the new anti-immigrant policy to be soon rolled out.
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