One year ago, President Trump issued his Muslim Ban.1, unleashing an eruption of rage and horror as citizems clogged airports for days and stiffened the spines of several federal judges who dared impede this racist, authoritarian order.
On Friday, under the apparent leadership of the Jewish justice organization
Bend the Arc, protesters rallied outside the Northern California ICE Operations Center on Sansome Street to express solidarity with undocumented people in the crosshairs of the administration's planned raids.
Minimally, demonstrators want a DREAM Act regularizing the legal rights of young people who had protected status until Trump yanked it.
But in truth, these protesters advance a broadly shared vision of justice, not limited to immediate demands.
This small action was cosponsored by Faith in Action Bay Area, Reform CA/Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley, Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley.
***After one year of the Trump regime, if we're white, located in liberal cities, and comfortably economically situated, we can meander to through our lives without having it rubbed in our faces that the country has run off the rails. Many around us have seen their fears confirmed and hopes dashed by the right wing ascendancy this president represents. But we're not immigrants, or refugees, or "
Black Identity Extremists" in the Justice Department's memorable words. We don't have to
live in perpetual terror that the Migra might come for our loved ones.
Little events like this action at ICE remind us the status quo is NOT okay. And fortunately there
is something we can do: the levers of democratic political action are within the reach of people like us; we can use them to throw the bums out and we must.
5 comments:
I gather you believe in no borders for our nation-- even though Mexico and Canada have them. So we take in everybody from around the world who can't live a good life (by our standards) where they are. How do we pay for that? Eliminate the expensive pensions some government employees have gotten? Raise taxes and make sure nobody can make more than $100,000 a year before the rest is taken by the government? (I read that proposal on FB). To house all these people, does everyone take in how many want to live with them on their sofas or wherever? I just don't see how a nation survives without viable borders and reasonable immigration laws. I am though not a globalist and it might be my problem with those who are. If we become a sanctuary country for the world, we won't have the life many of us currently enjoy. Our poor won't be better off. The jobs at the lowest levels won't get more pay as who would pay it? I think liberals are idealists who ignore the reality of the world and accuse those who think other than them of being racists. Incidentally, I see a lot of Hispanics both where I live and here in Tucson-- their skin color is not much different than mine but their features are. This isn't a colored versus white (whites aren't white). It's about do we have a system that is regulated or is it everybody can come on in and be housed and fed... hopefully not pooping on our streets as cholera isn't far away from a society that doesn't deal well with its waste...
Hi Rain: I wouldn't describe myself as in favor of open borders exactly. For a couple of decades, the United States enjoyed the labor of undocumented workers while our politicians couldn't agree on immigration policy. Now individuals, mostly people who have done nothing criminal, are being made to pay for our inability to come up with a sane immigration policy. Families long established in this country should not have to pay the price of our inaction.
I also do believe that immigration is economically necessary to this country. If we old folks want to go on getting Social Security, we need a large mass of young workers employed here and paying SS taxes. We did it for our parents and somebody is going have to do it for us. The home grown working class simply isn't reproducing itself. Growth in the labor force is coming from immigrants -- as it usually has in the history of this country.
I also believe strongly that this country should stand up for international undertakings to provide refuge to people driven out of their countries by violence and wars (sometimes our wars). Last year the US admitted less than half as many refugees as Canada which is a tenth our size. We should be doing more, not less.
I want to add that to me, Trump's proposal made sense as a way to be kind. Maybe for not just dreamers but those who have been here and worked for years but it takes something to go with it. I also like the idea of the nuclear chain-- mother, father, kids and not every relative. I think we should end the diversity lottery as it makes no sense. Instead have the number of workers needed allowed to have legal status with a plan for citizenship if they don't get in legal trouble. That would mean farm workers and be merit based as he suggested. No reason that could not be some of the same ones coming across the border in such risky ways and giving the 'coyotes' control over them which can be abusive and lead to drugs also. I think most Americans want something done legally about immigration as this idea of ignoring some laws and expecting others to obey the rest just makes no sense. Talk about a slippery slope. I'll obey the laws I like but not the ones I don't. Well maybe some think that means stealing food or clothing instead of buying it. What the dems want is a constant supply of illegal workers, which is why just giving citizenship to those here doesn't work. The repubs like the scary illegal to get their people to vote-- hence neither have wanted a real solution. And for globalists, who don't believe a border makes sense, they don't need immigration laws as there is no such thing. Anybody should be able to live anywhere they want.
The problem with refugees is being sure they are not also terrorists. That is complicated in some of the countries with no real government.
What I don't like is a shadow population. It doesn't help them and although a lot of Americans think they get cheaper food, they are paying a moral price for it.
He is not talking about no immigration (although some of his previous fans are). He's talking about changing how they come and why. Merit based means they can work in the fields, take care of the crops but do it out in the open.
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