I won’t read or listen to ‘it’s the narrative stupid’. Why? Because of the word ‘stupid’. Have you any idea how many individuals are writing on substack, and how many Substacks have insulting names or catchy words to get our attention? Well it took several months before I decided to subscribe to this Substack. I am nearly 80. Words such as stupid, idiot, and worse… F and S words, etc., make me recoil, using God as a tool or weapon, also makes me run the other way (well, really I can’t run very well any more, sadly). So, you might rethink how you advertise yourself. I do appreciate your opinions usually and hope to continue to read what you write. All the best from a woman who perhaps led a sheltered life, but I will never regret it. So maybe I miss out…
Thank you for taking the time to respond. I am certain you already have an alternative title. I cannot presume to tell you, someone of your caliber and way with words what to call your Substack, or composition or whatever you write. Be well.
The. Highest performing stock after the election was a private prison corporation, ready for migrants. Worth 400 million a year. And Trump will have his finger in the pie 🤬
One concern is if they can’t deport them, will there be mass graves that are found in future like in so many of these rogue administrations across the world, that kept their costs low
Well I do have a problem with both unbridled influx as well as really bad immigration laws. Congress needs to get off their asses and fix it. The Obama admin also caged minors. The photos shown during Trumps first term were from Obamas' admin.
A flood of undocumented workers has taken some of the only available jobs in urban areas that American workers do want and have been doing. While they have taxes deducted from their pay they do access some of the benefits of taxes so it's not true to say they cannot or don't also benefit from paying them. You are very wrong to construe Trump supporters as crazed "Nazi" like bigots. Most of us don't have a problem with ppl over immutable characteristics or ethnicity. I, like most conservatives I know, am more libertarian than republican. I bristle at some of Trumps cringe worthy rhetoric.
I hope you are wrong about the use of mercenary type forces being used for anything. Violent criminal illegals need to be removed. Full stop. I actually supported the amnesty that Reagan offered but he made the fatal mistake of not securing the borders at the same time. Most countries do not allow for open borders, illegal immigration and don't want violent criminals entering either. That hardly makes them racist. I don't care what color, nationality or beliefs anyone has though I take exception to violent ppl.
ALL MEAN PEOPLE SUCK.
I didn't much like Obama's policies yet I agreed for a path to citizenship for "dreamers". Kids brought here and raised here, especially those who have endeavored to be decent people are a benefit to any society. I voted for Trump because of quite a few other issues. I don't think we should be teaching very young children to hate one another or make any of them feel guilty for wrongs they didn't commit. Older kids should be taught(and have been) about the horrors of slavery, the holocaust, holomodor and every other period or instance of inhumanity. Brutality isn't particular to any people group. Tribal peoples notoriously enslaved one another. These tactics and actions are not, and never have been, acceptable. To imply that Trump supporters are all in on anything is foolish. I don't think all democrats are terrible or insane but the loudest mouths are usually the extremist crazies.
Look, you make some good points and have given me food for thought. Clearly it's best for our country to find common ground. We also need as impartial a press as is possible. The feeding into upholding dogmatic ideologies over honesty and journalistic integrity has fueled the divide. I try to read that which poses differing views so that I can make better sense and decisions.
Rational people aren't afraid or offended by hearing things they may not agree with. At least we can still hear others ideas. Censorship, short of calls for violence, isn't in anyone's best interest. Thank you for your thoughtful essay.
Thank you for your input Maureen and your comprehensive response. I think there may be some lost in translation instances. My reference to the Nazi similarly relates to the carefully chosen words by Trump and the segment of his supporters he was playing to.
I don’t think for one moment that every Trump voter is a fascist. Unfortunately though a not insignificant portion of his supporters would happily wear brown shirts.
I understand Republicans and Republican values. While I may not agree with much of what they say, I respect their position as I do yours. Unchecked immigration is harmful and I bow to your lived experience on rural jobs. My concern is more about the strain it can place on schools and other services.
The issue now is the mass deportation policy is not based on what’s good for America, it’s based on racial discrimination and hate of ‘the other’. To be clear, from your comments I can see you like me are a pragmatist and this winding back time to target DACA recipients is nothing but un called for cruelty.
Trump has halted border crossings, but the stats I provided are facts, his new regime is still deporting fewer migrants than Biden did in the same period in 2024 and dramatically less than Obama.
You don’t win a war with performative actions, you capture the narrative. These are two totally different things.
I’m sorry but I can’t even listen to Trump speak, to listen to him is to bear witness to persistent crimes against sentence structure. He is simply somebody’s useful idiot in my opinion.
In reality there is much on which we share common ground, but the societal fracture that is taking place will I fear result in pitchforks at dawn once millions of people are stripped of their healthcare.
This is a pivotal moment and Trump is an existential threat to the economic wellbeing of the nation. This for him is not about America it’s about Donald Trump.
Democrats are lost right now, but I feel I can confidently predict Trump will lose, because his own greed and hubris will cause him to commit political suicide.
When he does that I will crack open a beer and breathe a deep sigh of relief.
1. The "kids in cages" you referenced has indeed happened through multiple administrations of both parties. That is not what was discussed in this article. This article discussed the intentional, systematic, long term (sometimes permanent) removal of children from their parents' care and custody, solely because they crossed the border together illegally. The parents were not allowed contact with the children and did not even know where they were or who was caring for them. Parents were deported without any chance to bring their children (mostly non-citizens) with them. In fact, it was quickly revealed the the government had set up their records in such a way that it was in many cases literally impossible to figure out which kid belonged to which family even if they had tried. Parents were told their children would be placed for adoption by Americans. Although there are very few cases where this happened and those cases were more complex, it's still horrific. And all this was done with the explicit purpose of punishing these families for coming-EVEN WHEN THEY HAD LEGITIMATE ASYLUM CLAIMS THAT WERE EVENTUALLY APPROVED BY JUDGES-and deterring others. Jeff Sessions stood there and said "if you come here illegally and bring your children we will take your child away." That was unique in the Trump administration, was done to scare people by the shocking cruelty (and most of those who actually were separated crossed before the policy was announced, meaning they had no way of knowing those were the consequences when they took the action; in other words they were used as props to scare others). And it caused permanent mental health problems to thousands of children and parents. The party claiming to be so "pro-life" and "pro-family" that they will not allow women to receive treatment for miscarriages until the miscarriage is complete even when the woman is risking serious, disabling or lethal health issues is the same party that traumatized thousands of kids (who are just as innocent as the theoretical children represented by fetuses in that these kids did not make the choice to cross the border yet paid the worst of the consequences) for political points and to scare others into compliance with ever-changing rules. That is an entirely different issue than the children being detained which was represented in the Obama-era photos.
2. You reference violent criminals. Most people agree that they should be deported. However, the vast majority of those being swept up in Trump's operation are not criminals at all. In fact, thus far the percentage of criminals among those deported under Trump is actually lower than the percentage of those deported under Biden who were criminals. And Trump's cruelest moves have actually involved an even higher percentage of non-criminals than his deportations overall. 70% of those sent to the prison camp in El Salvador have no criminal record anywhere in the world; 90% have no US arrest record. And that trend is likely to continue because actual criminals, especially the violent "worst of the worst," are fairly easy to deport. They are already in custody and deportation orders are very easy to obtain once a criminal conviction happens. This means that the reason Trump and Miller are trying to avoid due process, disappear people before courts can intervene, and now suspend habeus is not to remove violent criminals because such steps simply aren't needed to remove them. The lack of due process is required to remove those who are not criminals AND who in many cases actually have the legal right to remain here IF they are allowed their day in court. Think about it: why else would they be so anxious to avoid ANY judicial review when US law is clear that violent criminals are automatically deportable? I would note that the more they remove basic rights and checks and balances, the more US citizens will be swept up in this operation, and if habeus is suspended they will have no way to extract themselves. Already a native-born US citizen was jailed for DAYS in Florida after being arrested under a state law criminalizing being present illegally that was not supposed to be enforced after being struck down in court. Not only did Florida highway patrol not notice he was a citizen, but the jail didn't when they took custody. Then even AFTER his mother provided his birth certificate and other documents in court and the judge dropped the state charge, he was STILL held an additional 1-2 days at the request of ICE who apparently didn't get the memo that his citizenship was proved or didn't care. That's one example of how things can go wrong, and this man even got a hearing, and very quickly compared to most such cases. The more quickly and aggressively this operation expands, the more citizens in danger. Thus far detained and deported adult citizens have apparently been mistakes, but if enough mistakes start happening you can bet they'll start "accidentally" disappearing people who are inconvenient to the regime.
You have written a lot here to say that you don’t want other people to have opportunities you were fortunate to have. “Better sense and decisions” would have been not to support and continue supporting a convicted felon, known to have lied tens of thousands of times, hate fomenter, instigator of an insurrection on the US Capitol, woman hater/abuser, corrupt and incompetent fascist. But sure, history shows enslaved people in different groups, so I guess that makes it all okay? Human rights abuses and sending people to foreign prisons and labor camps without due process is what you refer to as the “cringe worthy rhetoric”? Help me understand. This isn’t a left or right issue. This is human rights and freedoms. Might I recommend a poem by Martin Niemöller? Look it up, I’m sure you’ll know the one.
Overall though you are very correct about your very first point: CONGRESS needs to fix this mess. The loopholes that have caused such high crossings are in our immigration laws and must be fixed by lawmakers. They could also help by increasing funding for immigration courts since the massive case backlog is part of the incentive to cross even when there isn't a valid asylum claim. And as noted there was actually a compromise bill that would have done a lot to help. In fact after that bill died Biden implemented just a segment of it by executive order and that is when crossings began to decrease dramatically. Unfortunately, even though it was a pretty big win for the GOP and was a once-in-a-decade accomplishment Trump killed it so he had something to campaign on. Even more unfortunately, rather than implement the compromise strategies that would actually be legal and protect the Bill of Rights, he has chosen to instead simply ignore the law entirely AND challenge the Constitution at the same time.
The current Congressional leadership is so busy trying to pass this giant tax cutting/poverty increasing/debt ballooning bill that they have no time to attempt anything else, so I don't think an immigration law fix is coming. And this is problematic because Trump is relying on extraordinary measures to complete his agenda: in addition to simply ignoring and challenging the court, he is using national emergencies and wartime powers to change policy. This means that whatever is accomplished will be undone immediately whenever the emergency powers end, which means we will be living under declarations of emergency and invasion indefinitely. I'm confused at how libertarian-leaning folks like yourself, who complained so much about the federal and state use of emergency powers during Covid (which btw definitely killed more people and cost more jobs and money than illegal immigrants) aren't more concerned about the President declaring over a half-dozen "emergencies" so far in order to suspend our most basic rights. He has militarized our border and large parts of Southern border states have been suddenly seized by the military and turned into military property to allow for more people to be charged with trespassing in a military installation. In New Mexico the land seized, which is not marked to those approaching from the North (the US interior), has long been public hiking trails and hunting grounds. The likelihood of a hunter being shot by soldiers who see him trespassing on their base carrying a rifle is frightening.
Had Biden left the stay in Mexico policy and kept our border more secure we wouldn't have had thousands of weekly crossings in the first place. You're right though; we do absolutely need to beef up immigration courts. Perhaps a billion less dollars funneled to NGO's through USAID that seem to disappear without any accountability might be better use of those dollars. The people enticed to cross were at risk in the first place. They were predated upon by cartels, girls were sexually assaulted, children confiscated and then abandoned or sold. There remains thousands of unaccompanied minors that were sent to various"relatives" that just disappeared too. None of that had to happen. Look, the whole immigration debacle is a mess for sure. It's making cartels even more wealthy because they have to pay them off to cross. No one wants to see people brutalized or taken advantage of. Americans living along the border were subject to attack by cartel members too. The Hispanic Americans in border states weren't very happy about it either.
I truly hope the grim picture painted by this essays author never comes to fruition. I think, or maybe just want to believe, that decent ppl will not support people of any kind being treated without any regard to human dignity. I'm sure most of the people trying to run the borders are just desperate people trying to have a better life. We already have millions of ppl here that feel the same way. I've met ppl who immigrated here for a job that seemed to offer a salary commensurate with royalty where they came from but they were surprised that it didn't afford them a luxurious life. Gotta do your homework. Yes there are opportunities here but most of us can't afford a staff to tend to life's little hardships. We do our own cleaning, shopping, gardening and hustle through life. It's not a cake walk. Once you have kids it fast forwards but I'd rather shuffle through it all than not have them. Children give meaning to life like nothing else.
Anyway, thanks for your response. I do need to hear different "takes".
It's a bit strange to me that you express concern over sexual assault, trafficking and other dangers posed by smugglers (which is certainly a problem, since desperate individuals without knowledge or resources necessary to solve their problem are always highly vulnerable to exploitation; this is also why illegal immigrants are vulnerable to exploitation by both corporate and individual employers in the US) but think Remain in Mexico was a good solution. The migrants forced into the refugee camps on the Mexican border, most of whom crossed before the policy was enacted and therefore like those caught in the AEA prison scheme had no way of knowing the consequences, lived in extremely crowded and unsanitary conditions, exposed to the elements, without medical care or basic sanitation or basic needs. However, there were also dozens of documented cases of kidnapping for ransom by cartels; probably hundreds of sexual assaults of individuals of all ages, and multiple confirmed murders of migrants who fled gang or cartel violence only to be sent back to the lions' den so to speak. One of the many problems with Remain in Mexico was that it didn't exempt migrants from Mexico or other countries who faced threats or had already been attacked by criminal groups operating in Northern Mexico.
As far as the children sent to kindship care, no doubt there were a few who were sent to non-relatives. But while there has been much speculation by right wing media on the subject, I've seen no actual documentation of widespread child trafficking of that nature. If you have a link to a story about multiple children sent to homes of strangers by mistake, please provide it as I would be interested. If you are referencing the report about the "thousands of missing migrant children," please note that those cases took place over a period of time that included the first Trump administration and also that the definition of "missing" was those whose caregivers hadn't answered the phone when ORR called to check in with them. That requires further investigation but it's hardly proof of anything nefarious. I would also note that the system for placing migrant children is not terribly different than our systems for placing native born citizen children into kinship foster care in most states. There is absolutely room for improvement in all foster systems, but there isn't proof that migrant kids are at significantly increased risk over citizen kids.
As far as USAID, you've been misinformed. As with any grant program managed by any entity, certainly some grant funds have probably been mismanaged over the years. That said, in general USAID projects are some of the most efficient, well-proven interventions in the entire government. Among the grants terminated as "waste, fraud and abuse" was a system that used AI and real-time data monitoring to identify areas where famine was in the early stages. This allowed intervention before millions became ill and died and saved millions of lives at a relatively very low cost. Most of the hunger programs had similarly wide reach at low cost. Interventions to prevent and control HIV and TB were also extremely effective and efficient, and I don't think I need to explain why controlling dangerous infections anywhere is in the direct interest of US citizens. There are hundreds more examples. And it is simply incorrect that there was no oversight. No system is perfect and I'm sure the right wing media has found a handful of cases where things were done poorly. But USAID actually had economists and scientists who were employed especially to audit programs, analyze their effectiveness for cost, and find areas of improvement. Those professionals reached out to DOGE to try to work together but were never even contacted once and were quickly fired. I would also note that the entire USAID budget was less than one tenth of one percent of the federal budget overall AND that the immigration courts need many times the budget of the entire former agency. Although Trump has spent so much on immigration enforcement that all of DHS has almost spent their budget for the whole fiscal year (which ends in the fall) they have actually continued cutting the immigration courts and cutting positions for immigration judges. In fact, the entire massive immigration budget proposed by the WH could use some real auditors. Among the problems is that they want something like 30 billion to build a border wall, but have planned and budgeted absolutely nothing for things like technology to monitor the wall or engineering and maintenance so it doesn't fall in the river like last time-not to mention they've not budgeted for destruction that will inevitably occur from natural disasters. Since the last time around the wall was up less than 12hrs before videos appeared on social media of migrants sitting on top, spending so much on a wall without any supportive or complimentary infrastructure is a vanity project and a waste and nothing else.
I really appreciate you being open to alternate views and being civil in your responses. Those two qualities are sadly hard to find these days and I fear that without willingness to at least hear/read those with different views, we are only going to grow further apart. Plus, if we never listen to the other side how would we ever know if we are incorrect about anything? Please don't stop considering other viewpoints. I will try to do the same.
I don’t think that as a journalist it would is really your job to tell us what we should do about this. It is up to each of us to determine how we can work on changing this abhorrent situation. I want to know what is taking place and this platform has been helpful.
While I admire you taking the time and effort to pull all these anecdotal artifacts together and make a presentation of it, I am left wondering what the purpose is; I know what your point is (fascist regime is preparing to scale up their atrocities against the American people) but I can’t figure out what we should DO about it. Maybe you could release a revision of this piece with your thoughts on WHAT WE AS AMERICANS CAN DO ABOUT THIS??? Because I wake up every morning HOPING that this has been a nightmare but, sadly, NO this is the new normal and I just FEEL SO POWERLESS AND BETRAYED!!! HELP US TO FIND A WAY OUT OF THIS WAKING NIGHTMARE‼️
Thank you Jonathan for your input. I absolutely understand your frustration and I wish I could offer you a quick fix.
If we could step back to the civil rights movement the answer to your question would probably be, it might take a generation to unravel this mess.
I’m a believer in forewarned is forearmed. What I’m describing here aside from ‘anecdotal artefacts’ is a big economic problem. Even assuming he doesn’t subcontract the deportation program, the economic impact remains because undocumented workers are frightened to go to work, so they are inactive. Same economic impact.
There is no silver bullet. Americans don’t have a high economic pain tolerance so general strikes and the like seem to me to be off the table.
I truly wish I could deliver better news, but until the opposition truly gets their act together you are stuck with hoping Trump face plants.
Seeing what is happening to families and people being treated as if they were animals is very upsetting. Seeing, reading, and listening to people cheer those efforts makes me sick to my stomach. Somehow, they call themselves Christians.
These facts are so clear to understanding why this administration's approach is wrong on so many levels. However, I am horrified at the idea of bringing in private companies like Blackwater which has already been pardoned for earlier crimes by the criminal in chief. This does not bode well for immigrants or our economy or our state of morality. Such a sad and humiliating place in which we find ourselves. We must use everything possible to end this administration before it becomes practically impossible to do so.
I won’t read or listen to ‘it’s the narrative stupid’. Why? Because of the word ‘stupid’. Have you any idea how many individuals are writing on substack, and how many Substacks have insulting names or catchy words to get our attention? Well it took several months before I decided to subscribe to this Substack. I am nearly 80. Words such as stupid, idiot, and worse… F and S words, etc., make me recoil, using God as a tool or weapon, also makes me run the other way (well, really I can’t run very well any more, sadly). So, you might rethink how you advertise yourself. I do appreciate your opinions usually and hope to continue to read what you write. All the best from a woman who perhaps led a sheltered life, but I will never regret it. So maybe I miss out…
I’m always here to listen AnaMaria and of course I value your input. It was a play on the well known phrase ‘It’s the economy stupid’
Certainly not intended to offend, but if I take a step back, I understand your problem with it.
Let me assure you though it wasn’t designed to get attention, and I honestly mean that. How would you prefer it was titled?
Thank you for taking the time to respond. I am certain you already have an alternative title. I cannot presume to tell you, someone of your caliber and way with words what to call your Substack, or composition or whatever you write. Be well.
The. Highest performing stock after the election was a private prison corporation, ready for migrants. Worth 400 million a year. And Trump will have his finger in the pie 🤬
One concern is if they can’t deport them, will there be mass graves that are found in future like in so many of these rogue administrations across the world, that kept their costs low
Well I do have a problem with both unbridled influx as well as really bad immigration laws. Congress needs to get off their asses and fix it. The Obama admin also caged minors. The photos shown during Trumps first term were from Obamas' admin.
A flood of undocumented workers has taken some of the only available jobs in urban areas that American workers do want and have been doing. While they have taxes deducted from their pay they do access some of the benefits of taxes so it's not true to say they cannot or don't also benefit from paying them. You are very wrong to construe Trump supporters as crazed "Nazi" like bigots. Most of us don't have a problem with ppl over immutable characteristics or ethnicity. I, like most conservatives I know, am more libertarian than republican. I bristle at some of Trumps cringe worthy rhetoric.
I hope you are wrong about the use of mercenary type forces being used for anything. Violent criminal illegals need to be removed. Full stop. I actually supported the amnesty that Reagan offered but he made the fatal mistake of not securing the borders at the same time. Most countries do not allow for open borders, illegal immigration and don't want violent criminals entering either. That hardly makes them racist. I don't care what color, nationality or beliefs anyone has though I take exception to violent ppl.
ALL MEAN PEOPLE SUCK.
I didn't much like Obama's policies yet I agreed for a path to citizenship for "dreamers". Kids brought here and raised here, especially those who have endeavored to be decent people are a benefit to any society. I voted for Trump because of quite a few other issues. I don't think we should be teaching very young children to hate one another or make any of them feel guilty for wrongs they didn't commit. Older kids should be taught(and have been) about the horrors of slavery, the holocaust, holomodor and every other period or instance of inhumanity. Brutality isn't particular to any people group. Tribal peoples notoriously enslaved one another. These tactics and actions are not, and never have been, acceptable. To imply that Trump supporters are all in on anything is foolish. I don't think all democrats are terrible or insane but the loudest mouths are usually the extremist crazies.
Look, you make some good points and have given me food for thought. Clearly it's best for our country to find common ground. We also need as impartial a press as is possible. The feeding into upholding dogmatic ideologies over honesty and journalistic integrity has fueled the divide. I try to read that which poses differing views so that I can make better sense and decisions.
Rational people aren't afraid or offended by hearing things they may not agree with. At least we can still hear others ideas. Censorship, short of calls for violence, isn't in anyone's best interest. Thank you for your thoughtful essay.
Thank you for your input Maureen and your comprehensive response. I think there may be some lost in translation instances. My reference to the Nazi similarly relates to the carefully chosen words by Trump and the segment of his supporters he was playing to.
I don’t think for one moment that every Trump voter is a fascist. Unfortunately though a not insignificant portion of his supporters would happily wear brown shirts.
I understand Republicans and Republican values. While I may not agree with much of what they say, I respect their position as I do yours. Unchecked immigration is harmful and I bow to your lived experience on rural jobs. My concern is more about the strain it can place on schools and other services.
The issue now is the mass deportation policy is not based on what’s good for America, it’s based on racial discrimination and hate of ‘the other’. To be clear, from your comments I can see you like me are a pragmatist and this winding back time to target DACA recipients is nothing but un called for cruelty.
Trump has halted border crossings, but the stats I provided are facts, his new regime is still deporting fewer migrants than Biden did in the same period in 2024 and dramatically less than Obama.
You don’t win a war with performative actions, you capture the narrative. These are two totally different things.
I’m sorry but I can’t even listen to Trump speak, to listen to him is to bear witness to persistent crimes against sentence structure. He is simply somebody’s useful idiot in my opinion.
In reality there is much on which we share common ground, but the societal fracture that is taking place will I fear result in pitchforks at dawn once millions of people are stripped of their healthcare.
This is a pivotal moment and Trump is an existential threat to the economic wellbeing of the nation. This for him is not about America it’s about Donald Trump.
Democrats are lost right now, but I feel I can confidently predict Trump will lose, because his own greed and hubris will cause him to commit political suicide.
When he does that I will crack open a beer and breathe a deep sigh of relief.
Martin
A few things...
1. The "kids in cages" you referenced has indeed happened through multiple administrations of both parties. That is not what was discussed in this article. This article discussed the intentional, systematic, long term (sometimes permanent) removal of children from their parents' care and custody, solely because they crossed the border together illegally. The parents were not allowed contact with the children and did not even know where they were or who was caring for them. Parents were deported without any chance to bring their children (mostly non-citizens) with them. In fact, it was quickly revealed the the government had set up their records in such a way that it was in many cases literally impossible to figure out which kid belonged to which family even if they had tried. Parents were told their children would be placed for adoption by Americans. Although there are very few cases where this happened and those cases were more complex, it's still horrific. And all this was done with the explicit purpose of punishing these families for coming-EVEN WHEN THEY HAD LEGITIMATE ASYLUM CLAIMS THAT WERE EVENTUALLY APPROVED BY JUDGES-and deterring others. Jeff Sessions stood there and said "if you come here illegally and bring your children we will take your child away." That was unique in the Trump administration, was done to scare people by the shocking cruelty (and most of those who actually were separated crossed before the policy was announced, meaning they had no way of knowing those were the consequences when they took the action; in other words they were used as props to scare others). And it caused permanent mental health problems to thousands of children and parents. The party claiming to be so "pro-life" and "pro-family" that they will not allow women to receive treatment for miscarriages until the miscarriage is complete even when the woman is risking serious, disabling or lethal health issues is the same party that traumatized thousands of kids (who are just as innocent as the theoretical children represented by fetuses in that these kids did not make the choice to cross the border yet paid the worst of the consequences) for political points and to scare others into compliance with ever-changing rules. That is an entirely different issue than the children being detained which was represented in the Obama-era photos.
2. You reference violent criminals. Most people agree that they should be deported. However, the vast majority of those being swept up in Trump's operation are not criminals at all. In fact, thus far the percentage of criminals among those deported under Trump is actually lower than the percentage of those deported under Biden who were criminals. And Trump's cruelest moves have actually involved an even higher percentage of non-criminals than his deportations overall. 70% of those sent to the prison camp in El Salvador have no criminal record anywhere in the world; 90% have no US arrest record. And that trend is likely to continue because actual criminals, especially the violent "worst of the worst," are fairly easy to deport. They are already in custody and deportation orders are very easy to obtain once a criminal conviction happens. This means that the reason Trump and Miller are trying to avoid due process, disappear people before courts can intervene, and now suspend habeus is not to remove violent criminals because such steps simply aren't needed to remove them. The lack of due process is required to remove those who are not criminals AND who in many cases actually have the legal right to remain here IF they are allowed their day in court. Think about it: why else would they be so anxious to avoid ANY judicial review when US law is clear that violent criminals are automatically deportable? I would note that the more they remove basic rights and checks and balances, the more US citizens will be swept up in this operation, and if habeus is suspended they will have no way to extract themselves. Already a native-born US citizen was jailed for DAYS in Florida after being arrested under a state law criminalizing being present illegally that was not supposed to be enforced after being struck down in court. Not only did Florida highway patrol not notice he was a citizen, but the jail didn't when they took custody. Then even AFTER his mother provided his birth certificate and other documents in court and the judge dropped the state charge, he was STILL held an additional 1-2 days at the request of ICE who apparently didn't get the memo that his citizenship was proved or didn't care. That's one example of how things can go wrong, and this man even got a hearing, and very quickly compared to most such cases. The more quickly and aggressively this operation expands, the more citizens in danger. Thus far detained and deported adult citizens have apparently been mistakes, but if enough mistakes start happening you can bet they'll start "accidentally" disappearing people who are inconvenient to the regime.
Maureen,
You have written a lot here to say that you don’t want other people to have opportunities you were fortunate to have. “Better sense and decisions” would have been not to support and continue supporting a convicted felon, known to have lied tens of thousands of times, hate fomenter, instigator of an insurrection on the US Capitol, woman hater/abuser, corrupt and incompetent fascist. But sure, history shows enslaved people in different groups, so I guess that makes it all okay? Human rights abuses and sending people to foreign prisons and labor camps without due process is what you refer to as the “cringe worthy rhetoric”? Help me understand. This isn’t a left or right issue. This is human rights and freedoms. Might I recommend a poem by Martin Niemöller? Look it up, I’m sure you’ll know the one.
Overall though you are very correct about your very first point: CONGRESS needs to fix this mess. The loopholes that have caused such high crossings are in our immigration laws and must be fixed by lawmakers. They could also help by increasing funding for immigration courts since the massive case backlog is part of the incentive to cross even when there isn't a valid asylum claim. And as noted there was actually a compromise bill that would have done a lot to help. In fact after that bill died Biden implemented just a segment of it by executive order and that is when crossings began to decrease dramatically. Unfortunately, even though it was a pretty big win for the GOP and was a once-in-a-decade accomplishment Trump killed it so he had something to campaign on. Even more unfortunately, rather than implement the compromise strategies that would actually be legal and protect the Bill of Rights, he has chosen to instead simply ignore the law entirely AND challenge the Constitution at the same time.
The current Congressional leadership is so busy trying to pass this giant tax cutting/poverty increasing/debt ballooning bill that they have no time to attempt anything else, so I don't think an immigration law fix is coming. And this is problematic because Trump is relying on extraordinary measures to complete his agenda: in addition to simply ignoring and challenging the court, he is using national emergencies and wartime powers to change policy. This means that whatever is accomplished will be undone immediately whenever the emergency powers end, which means we will be living under declarations of emergency and invasion indefinitely. I'm confused at how libertarian-leaning folks like yourself, who complained so much about the federal and state use of emergency powers during Covid (which btw definitely killed more people and cost more jobs and money than illegal immigrants) aren't more concerned about the President declaring over a half-dozen "emergencies" so far in order to suspend our most basic rights. He has militarized our border and large parts of Southern border states have been suddenly seized by the military and turned into military property to allow for more people to be charged with trespassing in a military installation. In New Mexico the land seized, which is not marked to those approaching from the North (the US interior), has long been public hiking trails and hunting grounds. The likelihood of a hunter being shot by soldiers who see him trespassing on their base carrying a rifle is frightening.
Had Biden left the stay in Mexico policy and kept our border more secure we wouldn't have had thousands of weekly crossings in the first place. You're right though; we do absolutely need to beef up immigration courts. Perhaps a billion less dollars funneled to NGO's through USAID that seem to disappear without any accountability might be better use of those dollars. The people enticed to cross were at risk in the first place. They were predated upon by cartels, girls were sexually assaulted, children confiscated and then abandoned or sold. There remains thousands of unaccompanied minors that were sent to various"relatives" that just disappeared too. None of that had to happen. Look, the whole immigration debacle is a mess for sure. It's making cartels even more wealthy because they have to pay them off to cross. No one wants to see people brutalized or taken advantage of. Americans living along the border were subject to attack by cartel members too. The Hispanic Americans in border states weren't very happy about it either.
I truly hope the grim picture painted by this essays author never comes to fruition. I think, or maybe just want to believe, that decent ppl will not support people of any kind being treated without any regard to human dignity. I'm sure most of the people trying to run the borders are just desperate people trying to have a better life. We already have millions of ppl here that feel the same way. I've met ppl who immigrated here for a job that seemed to offer a salary commensurate with royalty where they came from but they were surprised that it didn't afford them a luxurious life. Gotta do your homework. Yes there are opportunities here but most of us can't afford a staff to tend to life's little hardships. We do our own cleaning, shopping, gardening and hustle through life. It's not a cake walk. Once you have kids it fast forwards but I'd rather shuffle through it all than not have them. Children give meaning to life like nothing else.
Anyway, thanks for your response. I do need to hear different "takes".
It's a bit strange to me that you express concern over sexual assault, trafficking and other dangers posed by smugglers (which is certainly a problem, since desperate individuals without knowledge or resources necessary to solve their problem are always highly vulnerable to exploitation; this is also why illegal immigrants are vulnerable to exploitation by both corporate and individual employers in the US) but think Remain in Mexico was a good solution. The migrants forced into the refugee camps on the Mexican border, most of whom crossed before the policy was enacted and therefore like those caught in the AEA prison scheme had no way of knowing the consequences, lived in extremely crowded and unsanitary conditions, exposed to the elements, without medical care or basic sanitation or basic needs. However, there were also dozens of documented cases of kidnapping for ransom by cartels; probably hundreds of sexual assaults of individuals of all ages, and multiple confirmed murders of migrants who fled gang or cartel violence only to be sent back to the lions' den so to speak. One of the many problems with Remain in Mexico was that it didn't exempt migrants from Mexico or other countries who faced threats or had already been attacked by criminal groups operating in Northern Mexico.
As far as the children sent to kindship care, no doubt there were a few who were sent to non-relatives. But while there has been much speculation by right wing media on the subject, I've seen no actual documentation of widespread child trafficking of that nature. If you have a link to a story about multiple children sent to homes of strangers by mistake, please provide it as I would be interested. If you are referencing the report about the "thousands of missing migrant children," please note that those cases took place over a period of time that included the first Trump administration and also that the definition of "missing" was those whose caregivers hadn't answered the phone when ORR called to check in with them. That requires further investigation but it's hardly proof of anything nefarious. I would also note that the system for placing migrant children is not terribly different than our systems for placing native born citizen children into kinship foster care in most states. There is absolutely room for improvement in all foster systems, but there isn't proof that migrant kids are at significantly increased risk over citizen kids.
As far as USAID, you've been misinformed. As with any grant program managed by any entity, certainly some grant funds have probably been mismanaged over the years. That said, in general USAID projects are some of the most efficient, well-proven interventions in the entire government. Among the grants terminated as "waste, fraud and abuse" was a system that used AI and real-time data monitoring to identify areas where famine was in the early stages. This allowed intervention before millions became ill and died and saved millions of lives at a relatively very low cost. Most of the hunger programs had similarly wide reach at low cost. Interventions to prevent and control HIV and TB were also extremely effective and efficient, and I don't think I need to explain why controlling dangerous infections anywhere is in the direct interest of US citizens. There are hundreds more examples. And it is simply incorrect that there was no oversight. No system is perfect and I'm sure the right wing media has found a handful of cases where things were done poorly. But USAID actually had economists and scientists who were employed especially to audit programs, analyze their effectiveness for cost, and find areas of improvement. Those professionals reached out to DOGE to try to work together but were never even contacted once and were quickly fired. I would also note that the entire USAID budget was less than one tenth of one percent of the federal budget overall AND that the immigration courts need many times the budget of the entire former agency. Although Trump has spent so much on immigration enforcement that all of DHS has almost spent their budget for the whole fiscal year (which ends in the fall) they have actually continued cutting the immigration courts and cutting positions for immigration judges. In fact, the entire massive immigration budget proposed by the WH could use some real auditors. Among the problems is that they want something like 30 billion to build a border wall, but have planned and budgeted absolutely nothing for things like technology to monitor the wall or engineering and maintenance so it doesn't fall in the river like last time-not to mention they've not budgeted for destruction that will inevitably occur from natural disasters. Since the last time around the wall was up less than 12hrs before videos appeared on social media of migrants sitting on top, spending so much on a wall without any supportive or complimentary infrastructure is a vanity project and a waste and nothing else.
I really appreciate you being open to alternate views and being civil in your responses. Those two qualities are sadly hard to find these days and I fear that without willingness to at least hear/read those with different views, we are only going to grow further apart. Plus, if we never listen to the other side how would we ever know if we are incorrect about anything? Please don't stop considering other viewpoints. I will try to do the same.
I don’t think that as a journalist it would is really your job to tell us what we should do about this. It is up to each of us to determine how we can work on changing this abhorrent situation. I want to know what is taking place and this platform has been helpful.
Sorry Judi, is your comment in relation to Johnathan’s comment?
Yes
While I admire you taking the time and effort to pull all these anecdotal artifacts together and make a presentation of it, I am left wondering what the purpose is; I know what your point is (fascist regime is preparing to scale up their atrocities against the American people) but I can’t figure out what we should DO about it. Maybe you could release a revision of this piece with your thoughts on WHAT WE AS AMERICANS CAN DO ABOUT THIS??? Because I wake up every morning HOPING that this has been a nightmare but, sadly, NO this is the new normal and I just FEEL SO POWERLESS AND BETRAYED!!! HELP US TO FIND A WAY OUT OF THIS WAKING NIGHTMARE‼️
It’s killing ALL of us right now.
Thank you Jonathan for your input. I absolutely understand your frustration and I wish I could offer you a quick fix.
If we could step back to the civil rights movement the answer to your question would probably be, it might take a generation to unravel this mess.
I’m a believer in forewarned is forearmed. What I’m describing here aside from ‘anecdotal artefacts’ is a big economic problem. Even assuming he doesn’t subcontract the deportation program, the economic impact remains because undocumented workers are frightened to go to work, so they are inactive. Same economic impact.
There is no silver bullet. Americans don’t have a high economic pain tolerance so general strikes and the like seem to me to be off the table.
I truly wish I could deliver better news, but until the opposition truly gets their act together you are stuck with hoping Trump face plants.
Seeing what is happening to families and people being treated as if they were animals is very upsetting. Seeing, reading, and listening to people cheer those efforts makes me sick to my stomach. Somehow, they call themselves Christians.
tRump, I was going to say, read Mein Kampf….but I mean someone read it to him like a bedside story, where he kept it.
These facts are so clear to understanding why this administration's approach is wrong on so many levels. However, I am horrified at the idea of bringing in private companies like Blackwater which has already been pardoned for earlier crimes by the criminal in chief. This does not bode well for immigrants or our economy or our state of morality. Such a sad and humiliating place in which we find ourselves. We must use everything possible to end this administration before it becomes practically impossible to do so.