What was Khalil’s crime that necessitated his being detained for three months in Louisiana and missing the birth of his son? We still don’t know because there aren’t any criminal charges. He was merely punished for advocating for Palestinians. He isn’t the only one. Turkish grad student Rumeysa Ozturk was kidnapped by ICE for co-writing an op-ed. Organizer and Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi was detained by ICE during his citizenship interview. Indian national and scholar Badar Khan Suri was abducted and detained simply for being married to a Palestinian American citizen.
None of this should have happened in the United States of America, which has due process and rights for all people, regardless of their citizenship, but this has become the new normal under the cruel and regressive Trump regime. Tragically, too many Americans thought Trump and Stephen Miller’s white supremacist agenda would only affect Palestinian protestors, undocumented immigrants, and the transgender community.
Well, I give you masked, armed ICE agents terrorizing Los Angeles with the help of the National Guard and the Marines. Trump promised to unleash these goons on other major blue cities across America. They even showed up at Dodger Stadium yesterday, but were thankfully denied access. Even elected officials aren’t safe from the modern Gestapo. Senator Alex Padilla was tackled and handcuffed simply for trying to ask Kristi Noem questions during her presser. NY City Comptroller Brad Lander was handcuffed and detained simply for asking to see a federal warrant. Trump has also expanded his “Muslim Ban” to now include African and Latin American countries, and foreign students will now have their social media “reviewed” as part of their visa applications.
Fascism comes for everyone in the end. Trump’s crackdown on immigrants is part and parcel of his larger authoritarian agenda to silence critics, dismantle our freedoms, and make America white again. It’s the murder-suicide of America, which has already negatively impacted our economy and isolated Americans from our allies and tourists.
Even though our elected leaders, including Democrats, and corporations have bent the knee to Trump’s agenda, the people are rising and resisting. Trump’s kidnapping and deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and 237 innocent brown immigrants is increasingly unpopular. Communities of color are boycotting organizations, law firms, and stores, like Target, that are complicit in their erasure and marginalization. Folks who voted for Trump thinking he’d make them rich or lower the price of eggs, are already having buyer’s remorse. Judges are standing up for the rule of law. Earlier today, a judge ruled against the Trump regime and said that Harvard can continue enrolling international students.
For Cristina Jimenez, a MacArthur “Genius” fellow and co-founder of United We Dream, this moment represents an opportunity for the country to create a new conversation around immigrants and immigration reform that refuses to parrot fear-mongering and hate that has become a staple of MAGA and been echoed by the Democratic establishment. She articulates this vision and message in her new best-selling memoir, Dreaming of Home: How We Turn Fear into Pride, Power, and Real Change, and joins me on The Left Hook to connect the dots of how Trump is using immigration to cement authoritarian rule.
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