…America is different. It is the only peaceful multi-racial
civilization in the world. Its people come of such diverse heritages of
religion, tongue, habit, fatherhood, color and folk song that if America did
not exist it would be impossible to imagine that such a gathering of alien
strains could ever behave like a nation. Such a stewpot of civilization might
be possible for city-states…[but not for a great nation] unless its people were
bound together by a common faith.
Theodore White, Breach
of Faith, p. 323:
TRUMP
ADMINISTRATION
This
next section involves developments since Donald J. Trump became president.
Here, my bias will clearly show.
I don’t
care for the man in the least.
But,
as a teacher, you could clean up the bias (and if I was teaching, I would,
myself) and still use them to good effect. I’m too lazy to rewrite these
examples, which come from my blog, A Liberal in Trumpistan.
*
U.S.
population growth in 2019 slowed to the lowest
rate since 1918, when World War I and a flu pandemic caused a decline. Total population rose by 1,552,022,
an increase of one half a percent. Forty-two states and the District of Columbia
recorded fewer births than in 2018. An aging population also meant four states,
West Virginia, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont recorded more deaths than
births.
The slowing of immigration also contributed to
the slowing of population growth. In 2019, only 595,348 immigrants came to
America to live. That compares to 1,046,709, who came in 2016.
It might be a good question to ask students: “How
might slowing population growth be a positive or a negative?”
***
March 3, 2017:
A Sikh gentleman, born in India and living near Seattle, is approached in his
driveway and shot by a white assailant. The gunman shouts, “Go back to your own country.”
*
Only those
immigrants who have important skills and can speak English fluently are wanted.
Had this
policy been in place in 1885 it would have been bad for Friedrich Trump, first
of the line to come to our shores. According to his
grandson, on arrival Friedrich knew
almost no English. All his life he spoke German primarily.
Know who else wouldn’t
have made it, had this new policy been in effect a century ago? Stephen
Miller’s great grandfather, a Jew fleeing pogroms and abuse in Russia, and
speaking Yiddish. He would have been barred. Sam Glosser
was his name and he passed beneath Lady Liberty’s torch around 1903. Most East
European Jews went straight to work in the sweatshops of the New York City
garment industry—low-skilled workers, earning low pay.
Virulent
anti-Semitism was still common in America at the time. A New York newspaper
referred to people like Glosser as “slime” being “siphoned upon us from the Continental mud tanks.”
Miller, of
course, has been the force behind many of the Trump administration’s positions
on immigration.
*
The alt-right is obsessed with a fear of “white genocide.”
The Times explains:
“White
genocide is a white nationalist belief that white people, as a race, are endangered and face extinction [emphasis
added, unless otherwise noted] as a result of nonwhite immigration and marriage
between the races, a process being manipulated by the Jews,” according to Ryan
Lenz, editor of Hatewatch, for the
Southern Poverty Law Center.
Many neo-Nazi types in Charlottesville carried shields
painted with a “14.” The number stands for fourteen words: “We must secure the
existence of our people and a future for white children.”
The slogan was created by David Lane, currently serving a
190-year prison sentence for murdering Jewish radio host Alan Berg.
 |
| Why do some groups fear immigration? |
*
December 3, 2017: Speaking of
courts—that pesky third branch of government—Trump is on the rampage again. (Okay,
you can tell I’m biased at times.)
A jury in San Francisco has listened to evidence in the case
of Jose Ines Garcia Zarote and deliberated for six days. Zarote, an illegal
immigrant, shot and killed Kate Steinle, an innocent bystander on a city pier.
That made him poster boy for Candidate/President Trump, who used the case to
prove we needed a giant border wall (and maybe a moat filled with piranhas) to
protect ourselves.
The story is a tragedy. Still, the case for murder is weak. Zarote did fire a gun—and as a
felon should not have had one in his possession. The bullet hit the pavement
and struck Steinle, eighty feet away, on a ricochet. This does not mean Zarote
is not vile. This does not mean the Steinle family did not suffer irredeamable
loss. It does mean Zarote could not be found guilty of murder, since he had no intent.
Trump insists our court
system, as it now stands, is a “laughingstock and a disaster.” What we needed,
he fumes, is “punishment that’s far quicker and far greater than the punishment these animals are
getting right now.”
*
After President Trump refers dismissively in January 2018 to immigrants from “shithole” countries, others go out of their way to point to “good Americans” who were born elsewhere, including some of those very countries. Some cite the example set by Emmanuel Mensah, who came here from Ghana. Mensah, a member of the Army National Guard, died after rescuing four people from a burning building and going after a fifth.
A photo of Alix Idrache, from his graduation ceremony at West Point, a Haitian immigrant himself, goes viral. Idrache captures the essence of what has always made the United States great.
Three things came to mind and led to those tears. The first is where I started. I am from Haiti and never did I imagine that such honor would be one day bestowed on me. The second is where I am. Men and women who have preserved the very essence of the human condition stood in that position and took the same oath...
The third is my future. Shortly after leave, I will report to Ft. Rucker to start flight school. Knowing that one day I will be a pilot is humbling beyond words. I could not help but be flooded with emotions knowing that I will be leading these men and women who are willing to give their all to preserve what we value as the American way of life. To me, that is the greatest honor. Once again, thank you.
 |
| Cadet Idrache. |
*
Immigration talk is all the rage in Washington. Trump’s base fears immigrants, in part because immigrants want to kill Americans with saws, hammers, shovels and garden tools.
Let’s take a trip to Texas—where they really, really, really need a wall!
“Texas lives on immigrant labor. Our economy is the way it is partly because cost of living is cheap and the reason for that is labor is cheap.”
Jeff Nielsen, Houston Contractors Association
Look closely and you notice something odd. Texas government is dominated by the GOP. Texas has a GOP governor. The GOP controls the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate. The state has two Republican U.S. senators and Republican-gerrymandered congressional districts ensure Republicans send 25 GOP representatives to the U.S. House of Representatives vs. 11 Democrats. And yet undocumented workers are employed all over the state.
Despite what Trump & Co. would have you believe, they aren’t killing people. They’re laying brick, finishing drywall and shingling homes. According to the Houston Chronicle, 400,000 construction jobs in Texas are filled by undocumented workers.
Why?
They work for half what American workers might demand. Jeff Nielsen, executive vice president of the Houston Contractors Association, is blunt. “Texas lives on immigrant labor. Our economy is the way it is partly because cost of living is cheap and the reason for that is labor is cheap.”
A Pew study completed in 2014 estimated that 1 in every 12 Texas jobs was filled by an undocumented worker. They were hired mostly by GOP-leaning business owners, almost all of whom would argue what we what we need most if we want to help real American workers would be massive tax cuts for businesses! Tax cuts would allow them to hire more workers!
*
The Trump administration decides to revoke Temporary Protective Status for 200,000 Salvadorians living legally in this country. More than half arrived before 1990. Now they may have to return to a country they barely remember.
Combined, they have 193,000 children born in the United States, and therefore citizens.
*
White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly decides to weigh in on the matter of immigration. Asked about illegal immigrants crossing the Mexican border, he tells reporters: “Let me step back and tell you that the vast majority of the people that move illegally into United States are not bad people. They’re not criminals. They’re not MS13.”
So far, so good. Kelly sounded like he grasped the nuances of the question.
“But they’re also not people that would easily assimilate into the United States into our modern society,” he adds.
These immigrants did not speak English well, he warned, as if he imagined his Italian great-grandparents did. Today’s immigrants, Kelly added, were “overwhelmingly rural people” from countries where “fourth-, fifth-, sixth-grade educations are kind of the norm…They don’t integrate well; they don’t have skills. They’re not bad people. They’re coming here for a reason. And I sympathize with the reason. But the laws are the laws.”
That immigrants in the first generation have difficulty assimilating has always been true. The first-generation Irish helped build railroads and canals. First-generation Italians went to work in coal mines and steel mills, working long hours for low pay. Today, first-generation Mexicans and Hondurans roof houses, groom golf courses and nanny kids. The second-generation Irish became policemen in Boston. The second-generation Italians, like the DiMaggio brothers, starred on the diamond. The second-generation Mexicans and Hondurans in the DACA program join the United States military, care for the sick in hospitals and teach in our schools.
Pfc. Diego Rincon, whose family fled Columbia as refugees, and who died at 19 in Iraq, wins posthumous U.S. citizenship. He would probably not approve of the Trump administration plan to cut the number of refugees allowed to enter the U.S.
While we’re on the topic, did you know 9,000 Dreamers work as teachers in this country? That includes New Mexico “Teacher of the Year,” Ivonne Orozco.
President Trump grumbles that the United States has the “dumbest immigration laws anywhere on earth,” “the worst immigration laws in history.” These were “laws that were written by people that truly could not love our country.”
The Washington Post runs an interesting article on Gen. Kelly’s family background. It turns out seven of his eight great-grand parents were immigrants, three from Ireland, four from Italy.
 |
| Most Irish and Italian immigrants were poorly educated and had trouble speaking English. |
*
“All
these people from shithole countries.”
Even
assuming Trump doesn’t read any books, the day only gets worse. In an afternoon meeting with members of both political
parties, discussion turns to renewal of DACA and comprehensive immigration
reform. Senators Lindsey Graham and Dick Durbin suggest extending protection to
various immigrant groups, including people from El Salvador, Haiti and Africa.
The
president gets frustrated, as he so often does, and lets his feelings boil up.
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” he
asks. “Why do we need more Haitians?” he wonders, hearing they’d be protected
under the bipartisan deal. “Take them out!”
The
White House does not initially deny the report about what he said.
1/12/18: A new
day dawns. A brand-new cover story is ready. Trump denies on Twitter that he
used the term “shithole” in a meeting with lawmakers. Yes, he admits, his
language was “tough.” He says the “shithole” story is made up. He never
insulted Haitians. “I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians.” All he
wants to do is kick 60,000 of them out of this country.
Other
than that…
The new
cover story takes a major hit when Senator Durbin says, no, Trump did use the term “shithole” and more than once. “I cannot imagine
that in the history of that hallowed room [the Oval Office],” Durbin tells
reporters, “where the president of the United States goes to work every day,
there has ever been a conversation quite like that. It was vile, it was
hateful, it was racist.”
Two Republican lawmakers
in the room issue a non-denial denial. Who, us? We don’t remember what Trump said.
“America is an idea…”
Sen. Lindsey Graham
Senator Graham issues a lengthy statement which all but says, “Durbin is telling
the truth. Trump is a liar.”
Here are the key lines:
Following
comments by the President, I said my piece directly to him yesterday. The
President and all those attending the meeting know what I said and how I feel. I’ve always believed
that America is an idea, not defined by its people but by its
ideals…Diversity has always been our strength, not our weakness. In reforming
immigration we cannot lose these American Ideals.
It doesn’t help Trump’s case
when Tim Scott, South Carolina’s other GOP senator, tells reporters, Graham confirmed the shithole comments to
him. Scott calls the president’s response “incredibly disappointing.”
1/13/18: What
can Trump do? He can’t apologize (see:
1/12/18). It’s not in his repertoire. He’ll have to ride this “shithole”
controversy out. Trump tries to tweet his way out of a hole. Not that hole!
Some other hole. Twice he tweet-blames Democrats for destroying the chance to
save DACA.
Reaction
from around the globe is negative. The African Union, representing 55 nations,
says the president’s comments were “clearly racist.” The Union statement
continues: “The African Union Mission condemns the comments in the strongest terms and demands a
retraction as well as an apology not only to Africans, but to all people of
African descent around the globe.” The Vatican calls Trump’s words, “particularly harsh and
offensive.” Rupert Colville, United Nations human rights spokesman, tells
reporters, “There is no other word one can use but racist. You cannot dismiss
entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes,’ whose entire populations, who
are not white, are therefore not welcome.” A European lawmaker
suggests Trump “had forgotten to engage his brain before talking.” But that’s
pretty much a given.
Even
Republican leaders feel compelled to say something. House Speaker Paul Ryan looks like
he’s sucking a pickle when asked for reaction. Showing that famous Ryan Spine,
he says Trump’s words are “unfortunate” and “unhelpful.”
Yes,
most Americans agree. Racist comments are “unhelpful.”
Former
RNC Chairman Michael Steele says the president is a racist. “At this point, the evidence is incontrovertible.”
Republican
Congresswoman Mia Love, herself of Haitian-American descent, says Trump’s remarks were “unkind, divisive, elitist,
and fly in the face of our nation’s values.” She adds, “This behavior is
unacceptable from the leader of our nation.”
Someone
is covertly drugging Trump!
Even Norwegians are not impressed. Says one veteran journalist, Trump’s comments fall “into a pattern of
nativist and very unpleasant language from a poorly qualified president, if not
worse…. [He] seems to relish in derogatory remarks about others and praise for
himself.”
Meanwhile, on his radio show, right-wing nut job Alex Jones explains his latest conspiracy theory. Someone is covertly drugging Trump.
Really. I’m not joking.
*
Still, you
might argue that Donald J. Trump is getting the hang of picking the right
people for the right jobs. After all, Rob Porter is better than Carl Higbie,
who had to leave his post in January.
We all know
how much the president wants to clamp down on illegal immigrants pouring into
this country, each and every one, intent on doing us harm. Also: taking jobs in
hotels and making beds
And picking
strawberries.
Bring a gun. Let’s shoot illegal immigrants.
Higbie had
some great ideas about how to curb the tide and you can see why his ideas might
have appealed to Trump, who just happens to be a big fan of Norwegian
immigrants, who just happen to be white. In an episode on a radio show,
ironically called Sound of Freedom,
Higbie had this to say:
What’s so
wrong with wanting to put up a fence and saying, “hey, everybody with a gun, if
you want to go shoot people coming across our border illegally, you can do it
for free.” And you can do it on your own, and you’ll be under the command of
the, you know, National Guard unit or a Border Patrol, I think stick a fence
six feet high with signs on it in both English and Spanish and it says “if you
cross this border, this is the American border, you cross it, we’re going to
shoot you.”
For added fun
click this link to CNN, which is running sound clips from
various Higbie hate-filled rants.
*
President Trump makes it
clear he believes “chain migration” must be stopped. Chain migration “begins”
when one immigrant comes to this country legally. After several years, that immigrant
becomes a citizen. The new citizen then sponsors relatives, particularly
parents, and siblings, to come. Those relatives qualify for green cards and
may, in five years or so, become citizens themselves.
According to Laura
Ingraham, on Fox News, we can’t allow this to continue. Ingraham highlights the danger:
In some
parts of the country, it does seem like the
America that we know and love doesn’t exist anymore.
Massive
demographic changes have been foisted upon the American people and they’re
changes that none of us ever voted for and most of us don’t like.
From
Virginia to California, we see stark examples of how radically in some ways the
country has changed. Now, much of this is related to both illegal and in some
cases, legal immigration that, of course, progressives love.
Let’s tease out her
meaning. Once upon a time there was an America we could “love.” Now there are
changes “most of us don’t like.” These are changes “we see.”
What prompts Ingraham to
turn fear into words? She’s upset about a Democratic candidate for Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who expounds socialist views. People like
Ocasio-Cortez, that “we see,” will ruin America.
Even legal immigration may mean America won’t be the America “we love”
for much longer.
This particular blogger and retired teacher sniffs racism in Ingraham’s
words; but perhaps others will interpret them more generously. One who does,
unfortunately, is David Duke. Her argument seems so on point, he tweets, that he has to offer his support. “One of the most important
(truthful) monologues in the history of MSM [mainstream media],” he says.
And who is Duke? He ran as a Republican for governor of Louisiana in
1991. He didn’t win. He ran as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in 2016. He
still didn’t win. Duke is also a former grand wizard of the K.K.K. and, to the
day he dies, likely to remain a K.K.K. man at heart.
What then can “we see,” assuming we look through the eyes of people like
Ingraham, Duke and (I would argue) the current President of the United States?
We don’t want immigrants who look like this:
 |
| Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's family is from Puerto Rico. Ingraham probably forgets that makes her and her family U.S. citizens. |
 |
| Lance Cpl. Diego Velazquez Valdiva, takes the citizenship oath. Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2012. |
 |
| Akheem Olajuwon, Nigerian-American basketball star. |
 |
| A Sikh immigrant and an officer in the U.S. Army. |
 |
| Army Sgt. First Class Tung Nguyen. |
*
We knew a decade ago how much immigrants helped keep America safe. In
February 2008, the U.S. military reported that 65,033 foreign-born men and
women were serving under the Stars and Stripes. That included 20,328
non-citizens but did not include the 111 who had already been killed in
Iraq and Afghanistan, fighting for a flag that people like Ingraham and Duke
don’t believe they’re fit to have drape their coffins. Those heroes had all been
posthumously granted citizenship in return for their lives.
Let’s consider a few of
the men and women who gave their lives under the Stars and Stripes:
One
officer who decided to use his talent and skill in service to our national
security was Army Chief Warrant Officer Suresh Krause. In Sri Lanka, where
Krause was born, the two official languages are Tamil and Sinhalese, both of
which are considered “critical” languages for recruitment purposes by the U.S.
Army.
Krause
joined the U.S. military to contribute another skill that was a passion from an
early age — flying — telling family members the Christmas before his death that
he planned on serving as a pilot in the Army for 20 years.
Krause’s
story is similar to that of many talented and ambitious immigrants. He came to
America at age 14 after being adopted by his aunt and uncle. As a young man,
Krause tried to take advantage of the opportunity his parents gave him. Krause,
who teachers describe as a “math genius,” displayed incredible talent in
aeronautics, going on to graduate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
After graduation, he became an officer in the U.S. Army, where he distinguished
himself once again. During his military career, Krause earned several
prestigious awards, including the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense
Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and NATO Medal, for his
valor and leadership on the front lines.
Krause
was ultimately killed while piloting a Black Hawk helicopter in Kandahar,
Afghanistan. His uncle, Brody Schmidt, described his decision to enlist as an
act of gratitude for the nation that took him in. “This is not his native
soil,” Schmidt said at the time, “But in his heart of hearts he bled U.S.A.
blood.” Following his death, former Representative Mary Bono Mack helped Krause
obtain his U.S. citizenship.
“Simply
becoming an American citizen wasn’t enough for Suresh,” Mack stated, “He wanted
to defend his adopted home, as well… In the end, Suresh Abayasekara Krause was
as American as you can get.”
Next:
Sgt.
Pamela Osborne, who was born in Jamaica, is one foreign-born member who made
her mark on the U.S. Army. Osborne moved to Miami at age 14 with two goals: to
become a U.S. citizen and to serve her adopted country as a solider in the
military. She enlisted in 2001, shortly before September 11. “She loved what
she did,” her husband has said. Even after being diagnosed with a medical
condition that could have resulted in her leaving the military, she kept going.
As she explained to her husband at the time, “I’m going to serve my country,
to protect my country.” Osborne passed away in the service of her fellow
soldiers. On October 11, 2004, after spending the morning in church, Osborne
headed out to deliver supplies to another enlisted service member and vehicle
mechanic, Pvt. Anthony Monroe of Bismarck, North Dakota.
Both
were killed when rocket fire hit their camp in Baghdad. “Sgt. Osborne was
always ready to help soldiers,” one of her colleagues wrote on a tribute page
after her death, “She was a credit to the United States, and I’m lucky to have
known and served with her.”
Finally,
Ingraham and others like her might open their eyes a little wider and “see” all
the colors of true Americans:
Army Sgt.
1st Class Tung Nguyen is one immigrant who died in service in recent years
after a long and celebrated career in the U.S. Army. Nguyen joined the military
shortly after graduating from high school. During his 20 years of service,
Nguyen rose steadily through the ranks. In 1992, he qualified as a Green Beret,
becoming a part of U.S. Army Special Forces, a prestigious unit designed for
special and unconventional operations. He was given several other accolades as
well, including two Meritorious Service Medals, two Army Commendation Medals,
and four Army Achievement Medals.
Nguyen’s
decision to serve led naturally from his experiences early in life. As a young
boy living in South Vietnam, he was surrounded by a tradition of military
service. He grew up hearing stories from the front lines of the Vietnam War, a
battle in which many of Nguyen’s family members fought against communist
forces. At the age of 11, Nguyen fled his native Vietnam, finding refuge and a
stable home with a foster family in Tracy, California. Once there, his interest
in serving his new country continued. Nguyen died during a small arms fire in Iraq
in 2006. Following his death Nguyen was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart,
Iraq Campaign Medal, and Combat Infantryman Badge posthumously.
In his
last conversation with his mother, while reflecting on his life, service, and
accomplishments, Sergeant Nguyen continued to show a great level of dedication
and gratitude to the United States. He ended the conversation thanking her for
“letting him go to America.”
*
For a list of all the times
President Trump has railed against “chain migration,” go to his Twitter
Archive, type
“chain migration” under “search” and see what pops up:
Nov 1,
2017: CHAIN MIGRATION must end now! Some people come in, and they
bring their whole family with them, who can be truly evil. NOT ACCEPTABLE!
Nov 2,
2017: Congress must end chain migration so that we can have a
system that is SECURITY BASED! We need to make AMERICA SAFE!
Feb 6,
2018: We need a 21st century MERIT-BASED immigration system. Chain
migration and the visa lottery are outdated programs that hurt our
economic and national security.
It was the First Lady’s
parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs. And how did they get to the head of the line to immigrate
to the United States? Were they admitted because of special merit? Do they have
special skills in demand in the United States? Were they ready to serve under
the U.S. flag?
Viktor
was listed as early as 2007 as having
residence at Mar-a-Lago. In Slovenia, Viktor Knavs (now 73) worked as a
chauffeur and car salesman. Amalija Knavs (now 71) was a pattern maker at a
textile factory.
How
about Melania?
She was
admitted to the U.S. under a program that allows people with extraordinary abilities to cut the line.
According to the Washington Post,
“She has not provided details about how she proved to the U.S. government that
she qualified to receive a green card for her ‘extraordinary ability,’ a category
generally reserved for highly accomplished people such as Nobel Prize
winners.”
Melania’s
older, “under-the-radar” sister, Ines, also immigrated to the U.S. One Florida philanthropist, who
met her at Mar-a-Lago in 2005, described her “as a lovely person, and extremely
creative.” Apparently, Ines is an artist; but the First Lady doesn’t care to
talk about her. Ines lives quietly “in a Trump-owned apartment in the same
Upper East Side building that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump called home”
before they headed off to D.C. to help drain the swamp.
And if Laura
Ingraham was worried about a “socialist” Democrat like Ocasio-Cortez, she might
want to consider Melania’s father. Growing up in what was Yugoslavia, he joined
the Communist Party.
White
House spokeswoman Hope Hicks once assured reporters that Melania’s dad was never a
“card-carrying” member.
Still,
shouldn’t Fox News be warning about him?
The
First Lady’s parents made their first trip to America in February 2004. Now,
fourteen years later, they are as American as you and I.
Yet, in
his State of the Union address last February the president warned:
Under
the current broken system, a single immigrant can bring in virtually unlimited
numbers of distant relatives. Under our plan, we focus on the immediate family
by limiting sponsorships to spouses
and minor children. This vital reform is necessary, not just for our
economy, but for our security and our future.
The
First Lady has declined to comment about her parents’ new status; and we don’t
know if she, her son Barron, who is close to his grandparents, or even the
president celebrated in any way.
We do
know this. The president howled again during a recent news conference that the
danger of “chain migration” was manifest. “You bring one person in, you end up
with 32 people,” he said. “You come in and now you can bring your family and
then you can bring your mother and your father, you can bring your
grandmother,” he grumbled on another occasion.
This was
a terrible situation—and now that Melania’s family was safely arrived—it had to
be stopped.
In any
case, congratulations to the First Lady’s parents, two newly-minted Americans;
and no harm done.
 |
| Two new Americans, Mr. and Mrs. Knav. |
*
Top White House aide
Stephen Miller comes under attack in August 2018, but from an unexpected
direction. In case you don’t know, Miller is a leading architect of Trump
administration immigration policy. In that role he has pushed for an array of
limits, including curtailing legal immigration.
Chain migration, Miller says,
must end (see above).
The “zero tolerance”
policy, separating parents and children seeking asylum at the border, leading
to children barely old enough to talk being locked up in cages, was a Miller
initiative. Last year the number of refugees allowed to enter the country legally was
cut to the lowest level in four decades. The total was capped at 45,000, even
though a coalition of religious groups hoped to see at least 75,000 admitted.
Miller’s fingerprints were all over that policy too.
Now Team Trump is
advancing plans to reduce the flow to 25,000 per year. One
former administration official told reporters that with Miller in his ear,
Trump has considered going as low as 5,000 refugees.
Why has Miller been so
keen on the idea of cutting immigration? And why is Trump so happy to listen? Politico recently explained. Miller was
not “deterred” by the child separation disaster, one GOP source said.
“He is
an adamant believer in stopping any immigration, and the president thinks it
plays well with his base.”
Miller
was distraught in the aftermath of the zero tolerance fiasco, said two
Republicans close to the White House. He considered zero tolerance an essential
component to his efforts to deter immigration. For his troubles, he got heckled at D.C. restaurants,
prompting him in one instance angrily to pitch $80 worth of takeout sushi into
a trash bin.
Protesters
showed up at his apartment complex chanting, “Stephen Miller/ You’re a villain/
Locking up/ innocent children.”
Now
Miller is taking heat from his family. In an editorial, his uncle
David S. Glosser lays down the story of Miller’s roots. Glosser begins: “Let me
tell you…about Stephen Miller and chain migration.”
In the
face of “violent anti-Jewish pogroms and forced childhood conscription in the
Czar’s army” a Russian Jew named “Wolf-Leib Glosser, fled a village where his
forebears had lived for centuries and took his chances in America.”
He set
foot on Ellis Island on January 7, 1903, with $8 to his name. Though fluent in
Polish, Russian, and Yiddish he understood no English. An elder son, Nathan,
soon followed. By street corner peddling and sweat-shop toil Wolf-Leib and
Nathan sent enough money home to pay off debts and buy the immediate family’s
passage to America in 1906. That group included young Sam Glosser, who with his
family settled in the western Pennsylvania city of Johnstown, a booming coal
and steel town that was a magnet for other hard-working immigrants.
The
family set out in dogged pursuit of the American Dream. First, they sold goods
out of a horse-drawn wagon. Next came the purchase of a haberdashery. Over the
years the Glossers built up a chain of supermarkets and discount department
stores. The family business “was big enough to be listed on the AMEX stock
exchange and employed thousands of people over time.”
What
does this have to do with Miller? His mother was a Glosser and the sister of the editorialist.
David
Glosser is harsh in assessing his nephew’s anti-immigrant stance:
I
shudder at the thought of what would have become of the Glossers had the same
policies Stephen so coolly espouses—the travel ban, the radical decrease in
refugees, the separation of children from their parents, and even talk of limiting citizenship for legal
immigrants—been in effect when Wolf-Leib made his desperate bid for freedom.
The
Glossers came to the U.S. just a few years before the fear and prejudice of the
“America First” nativists of the day closed U.S. borders to Jewish refugees.
Had Wolf-Leib waited, his family would likely have been murdered by the Nazis
along with all but seven of the 2,000 Jews who remained in Antopol [the
Glosser’s ancestral village].
I would
encourage Stephen to ask himself if the
chanting, torch-bearing Nazis of Charlottesville, whose support his
boss seems to court so cavalierly, do not envision a similar fate for him.
Glosser
goes on to outline the president’s own immigration story. Friedrich Trump, his
grandfather, left Germany to avoid military service and came to the U.S. in
1885. Avoiding service to country is a Trump family tradition.
Trump’s
mother “fled the poverty of rural Scotland for the economic possibilities of
New York City.”
And
today, two like-minded men, Miller and Trump, are working in tandem to slam the
door to America on people who would come here for the same reasons their own
ancestors did.
*
Former
Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Madeline Albright blast the new Trump
administration immigration policies. Powell, a decorated war hero and a Republican,
points out, “My parents came from Jamaica on banana boats and raised two
children here.” He goes on to say, “that one became a teacher and the other had
success as a soldier. We are giving that image up, and we shouldn’t. It’s the
strongest message we give the
rest of the world.”
Albright,
who served in the Clinton administration, adds, “I’m deeply troubled by the
direction we’re going. I’m a naturalized American citizen. I came when I was 11
years old. I’m very upset about the image we’re projecting abroad.”
She talks
about escaping the Nazis and learning that 26 Jewish relatives died during the
Holocaust.
“I’ll
never forget what it was like to come to America, on the SS America, past the Statue of Liberty. I remember [years
later] giving a certificate to a man, a refugee, who said, ‘Can you believe I’m
a refugee and the secretary of state is handing me my naturalization
certificate?’ I said, ‘Can you believe the
secretary of state is a refugee [emphasis
in original]?’”
 |
| Secretary of State Albright. |
*
President
Trump suggests in November 2018 that he might sign an executive order to end
“birthright” citizenship in this country.
Speaker
of the House Paul Ryan, and others, point out that this would be to ignore the Fourteenth Amendment and previous
Supreme Court decisions.
Ryan
points out:
You
cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order. As a conservative,
I’m a believer in following the plain text of the Constitution, and I think in
this case the 14th Amendment is pretty clear, and that would involve a very,
very lengthy constitutional process.
This
irks Trump, even though Ryan agrees with him that “unchecked illegal
immigration” is the “root issue.” First, Trump tweet-attacks Ryan. Then he
warns that if the infamous migrant caravan approaching does arrive and members
throw rocks or stones at troops guarding the border, those rocks and stones will be considered “firearms.” That
means U.S. troops will be authorized to fire on civilians, including women and
children. Make America great again, c. 1890.
See:
Wounded Knee.
Former
Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, a decorated Vietnam War hero and former Secretary
of Defense responds to Trump’s comments: “My reaction ... is one of disgust.
That is a wanton incitement of
unnecessary violence. It is a distraction, it is a distortion, it is a
rank political purpose to use our military like this.”
*
One
definite foe of immigration is Rep. Steve King of Iowa. His past statements on
the topic include:
A)
Retweeting posts from a British man, Mark
Collett, who likes to warn about the dangers of dark-skinned people flooding into Europe. Collett is an
avowed “Nazi sympathizer.”
B)
Endorsing a candidate for mayor of Toronto, Faith
Goldy, who likes to warn that Canada is facing “white genocide.” King has described Goldy as “pro Rule of Law, pro Make Canada Safe Again, pro balanced budget,
&...BEST of all, Pro Western Civilization and a fighter for our values.”
C)
Making pork chops an issue, complaining when he learned
Somali immigrants working in Iowa meat packing plants needed “a special
dispensation” from their imams to handle pork. “The rationale,” King claimed
without really knowing what he was talking about, “is that if infidels are
eating this pork, [the Muslims] are not eating it. So as long as they’re
preparing this pork for infidels, it
helps send them to hell and it must make Allah happy.” At that point,
King almost choked on his breakfast sausage. “I don’t want people doing my pork
that won’t eat it, let alone hope I go to hell for eating pork chops.”
D)
Saying during his meeting with leaders of the
Freedom Party, that immigration offers
nothing of value to our country. “What does this diversity bring that we
don’t already have? Mexican food, Chinese food, those things—well, that’s fine.
But what does it bring that we don’t have that is worth the price? We have a
lot of diversity within the U.S. already.”
E)
Defending the predominantly white face of the
current GOP during one interview, by offering this nugget: “I’d ask you to go back
through history and figure out, where are these contributions that have
been made by these other categories of
people that you’re talking
about, where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?”
F)
Justifying his anti-Dream Act position during one interview by insisting, sure, a few good
people (like 689,000) might come into this country as
children—grow up here—serve in the U.S. military—go to college—consider
themselves as American as King himself. But, hey, they aren’t worth the
trouble. “Some of them are valedictorians, and their parents brought them in,”
King insists. “For everyone who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out
there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75
pounds of marijuana across the desert.”
G)
Tweeting that America is endangered by current immigration because “culture and
demographics are our destiny. We can’t restore
our civilization with somebody else’s babies.”
*
In a final warning before the 2018 midterm
elections, the president tweet-warns illegal immigrants not to show up at the polls
and vote. “Law Enforcement,” he says, “has been strongly notified to watch closely
for any ILLEGAL VOTING which may take place in Tuesday’s Election (or Early
Voting). Anyone caught will be subject to the Maximum Criminal Penalties
allowed by law. Thank you!”
*
Some
weeks back, Trump issued a proclamation ordering all individuals seeking asylum
at our southern border to appear at official ports of entry. Failing to do so,
he decreed, would render them ineligible for asylum.
As NPR explains,
the Immigration and Nationality Act, or INA, is clear. If a person makes it to
U.S. soil, even if they enter the country illegally, they can apply for asylum.
U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar sides with asylum seekers and issues a temporary
restraining order blocking the president.
“Whatever
the scope of the President’s authority, he may not rewrite the immigration
laws to impose a condition that
Congress has expressly forbidden,” he wrote. “Defendant’s [the Trump administration]
claims that the rule can somehow be harmonized with the INA are not persuasive.
“Failure
to comply with entry requirements such as arriving at a designated port of
entry should bear little, if any, weight in the asylum process,” the
Obama-appointed judge continued.
*
Federal
and state authorities have
evidence that fake green cards and fake Social Security numbers may
have been supplied to illegal immigrants working at a New Jersey golf course.
Here you have these “murders” and “rapists”—probably nine out of every ten
being members of MS-13—working in the clubhouse, wiping down tables in the bar
and cutting grass on the course. At every turn, these dangerous individuals
have access to deadly implements and might at any moment set upon rich private
club members, stabbing them with kitchen knives, whacking them over the head
with putters or finishing them off with lawn care tools of their choice.
Thankfully,
authorities have broken up the alleged crime ring—in Bedminster, N.J.—and
are gathering evidence even now. Two potential killers, Victorina Morales and
Sandra Diaz, who had been posing as cleaning ladies, turned over fake document
and threw themselves on the mercy of the court.
For the
sake of golfing Americans and their loved ones, let’s pray state police and
F.B.I. agents called in on the case can get to the bottom of this mess at Trump
National Golf Club, owned by the president himself.
*
In
January 2019, a dozen illegals are fired from jobs in New York. No way of knowing how
many were psychopaths, waiting the right moment to murder and maim. We do know they
could have been plotting harm for years—to vacuum carpets, cut the grass and
finally slit a few throats at Trump
National Golf Club Westchester in Briarcliff Manor, New York.
Once
again, we discover that Donald J. Trump has been hiring the undocumented for
years. The case of Margarita Cruz, who worked at the New York club for eight years, highlights
the hypocrisy of the president’s anti-immigrant screeds. Cruz admits she bought
false documents, including a green card and Social Security card years ago. It
cost her $120.
So, you might
excuse Trump management, and say, “Well, how could they know?” The flaw in that
argument is obvious. Cruz was never provided health insurance or pension
benefits, like co-workers. Anibal Romero, the lawyer who represents Cruz and
other recently fired employees, including a head chef, is blunt. “I’m not
buying they didn’t know,” he says. “This was a two-tiered system. The people who were
legal and the people who are undocumented.”
And why would any
employer complain? Look the other way and you don’t have to provide healthcare
or pension benefits. One of the falsely documented or undocumented workers had
worked for Trump for eighteen years.
No healthcare or pension required.
Eric Trump, for one,
pretended shock. He promised the Trump Organization would redouble efforts to
ferret out all the illegals clogging the payroll.
*
Fox News
announces ( January 26, 2019) that Texas has found 95,000
non-citizens on its voter rolls. State officials say that includes 58,000
who voted illegally! Once again, this proves to fans of Donald J. Trump, who
also love Fox News—which if we drew a Venn diagram would almost perfectly overlap—that
what we need is a giant wall and maybe a voter ID law based on skin tone.
The
president himself is quick to tweet: “58,000 non-citizens voted in Texas,
with 95,000 non-citizens registered to vote. These numbers are just the tip of
the iceberg. All over the country, especially in California, voter fraud
is rampant. Must be stopped. Strong voter ID! @foxandfriends[.]”
(Sound
of panicked Fox News fans loading all their guns.)
A
grand total of 33 prosecuted for voter fraud last year.
Then
again, some of us remember these same scary stories from past years. First, if
you read the entire article, you learned that a grand total of 33 people had
been prosecuted for voter fraud in Texas in 2018. That’s out of a population of
16 million and we don’t even know if any were illegal immigrants.
We do
know “33” is not as scary as “58,000.”
You can
read a bit further and see that between 2005 and 2017 there were 97
prosecutions for the crime.
Finally,
the reported 58,000 illegal votes were cast in elections from 1996 through
2018. And if you’d like to see how “accurate” state records have been in such
matters in the past, consider Florida.
Back in
2012, Florida announced that it was purging 186,000 non-citizens from its
voting rolls.
Feverish
authorities went to work. First, they checked their original scary list and
discovered that the actual number of non-citizens registered to vote was…2,600.
Still too many!!!! Then they checked again, and the list shrank to 198! Then
they found out that among the tens of thousands of voters they had purged was a
Brooklyn-born, decorated World War II vet.
That was
embarrassing for everyone involved.
By the
time Florida authorities cleaned up their records the 186,000 had been
reduced to 85 cases, a not scary number at all.
For
additional reading, it can be a great deal of fun to consider the sterling
record of Kris Kobach of Kansas, once the pillar of voter registration
“reform.” Kobach was the foremost champion of purging voter rolls—weeding out
millions and millions of illegals who went out and voted in 2016, in his state
of Kansas and across the nation, very nearly throwing the election Hillary’s
way.
And it
came to pass, that as Kansas Secretary of State, Kobach wielded the Sword of Ballot
Purity and uncovered nine whole cases of Kansans voting illegally
over four or five years, at least one of whom did so by mistake.
Those nine cases included
two Republicans, at least.
*
March 2019: As for
the president, he’s on to the next topic. He’s listing his greatest hits. He’s
talking immigration:
We need
workers to come in. But they need to come in legally, and they’ve got to come
in through merit, merit, merit. They’ve got to come in through merit,
they have to be people who can help us, they have to be people who can love our
country, not hate our country. We have people in Congress right now, we have
people in Congress that hate our country. And you know that. And we can name
every one of them if they want. They hate our country. Sad. It’s very sad. When
I see some of the things being made, the statements being made, it’s very, very
sad. And find out: How did they do in their country? Just ask ’em. How did they
do? Did they do well? Were they succeeding? Just ask that question. Someone
would say, “Oh, that’s terrible that he brings that up,” but that’s okay, I don’t
mind, I’ll bring it up. How did they do in their country? Not so good. Not so
good.
“These people
are sick,” Trump adds, describing Democrats, liberals and critics in a way
meant to stir visceral hate.
Again,
the crowd goes wild. No one stops to wonder: How did the parents of the First Lady manage to enter this
country? What merits did they bring?
It turns
out, the president isn’t the only Trump who knows the Gibberish tongue. Last
January, Eric, who now runs the Trump Organization, along with Don Jr., claimed
the fact that all Trump properties seemed to have hired undocumented workers and
employed them for years—well, that was a sign that the U.S. immigration system—not
the Trump Organization—was messed up.
Eric did want to make clear. He had a
heart. True, it was a Trump heart, but a heart with real valves and chambers. “I must say, for me personally, this whole thing is truly
heartbreaking. Our employees are like family, but when presented with fake
documents, an employer has little choice.”
WTF! Did
he just admit there are good people who sneak into this country and don’t want
to rape and kill?
What
about the monsters of right-wing fever dreams, the drug mules
“with calves like cantaloupes?” What about the “animals” crossing illegally so they can join MS-13 and
disembowel Americans in red MAGA hats? What about the “invaders” his dad always
describes: “A lot of young men,
strong men. And a lot of men that maybe we don’t want in our country.”
Was Eric admitting there were actual human
beings who came across the border, people who were like “family” to him?
Let’s
give
the final word to Victoria Morales, an undocumented worker from Guatemala. She worked
for the Trump Organization for years, both before the president turned over
control to his sons, and after. “How can the
president profess to not know we were undocumented workers if we have all [now]
been fired?” she said recently. “I cleaned his house. I
cleaned Ivanka’s house. He saw me all the time. I’m sure he figured I didn’t
have papers.”
April 2019: Trump lovers are no doubt thrilled to hear that on Thursday ICE launched one
of its largest raids in years, netting 280 undocumented workers at CVE
Technology Group and four related businesses in Allen, Texas. No telling how
many of those 280 were waiting to rape or kill upstanding Americans.
You can
definitely assume they were all working cheap.
It’s odd
how often businesspersons, who lean heavily Republican in voting preferences, are
caught hiring the undocumented and then insist they believe we need a giant
border wall. A check of public records fails to yield much info on Edward Cho,
owner of CVE, but chances are he donates more to Republican causes and
candidates than otherwise. Nearly three out of every four dollars donated to political parties in Texas end up in GOP
coffers.
The
state is controlled by Republicans: governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of
state, both houses of the legislature. Both U.S. senators and 23 of 36
representatives in the U.S. House are members of the Republican Party. Yet the
GOP is completely inept when it comes to curtailing the hiring of undocumented
workers in the state.
The Texas Tribune pointed this out in an
article in 2016:
In Texas, 1.1 million unauthorized immigrant workers made up 8.5
percent of the state’s total labor force, concentrated in industries like
agriculture, hospitality and especially construction, where an estimated 25
percent of workers were unauthorized.
Researchers at the Workers Defense Project and the University of
Texas at Austin put that number even higher, finding that half of surveyed
construction workers in Texas said they were undocumented.
Typically,
Tribune reporters talked to two
undocumented brothers working in construction. They said they often put in
14-hour days, for which they earned $90, meaning they worked for $6.43 per
hour, with no overtime pay.
So why
don’t Texas Republicans do more to curtail illegal hiring? It pays handsomely
to look the other way.
*
May 2019: Today, Trump insults the
U.S. Supreme Court, calling a decision to block a question on the 2020 Census,
asking whether people living at a given address are citizens or not, “totally ridiculous.”
In a 5-4 vote, the majority said the rational cited by the
administration for asking the question was “contrived.”
So, let’s go to the U.S. Constitution.
Article I, Section 2, requires that a census be taken every ten
years, counting all “free Persons,” excluding “Indians not taxed,” and tossing
in “three fifths of all other Persons” to establish state populations.
Those “three fifths” were slaves. That meant every five slaves
counted as three white persons in determining population.
These populations become the basis for purposes of representation
in the U.S. House of Representatives and for apportionment of any direct taxes.
Okay. I’m checking Article I, Section 2 again. Nope. The
words “citizen” and “citizenship” do not pertain. In fact, every census,
starting in 1790, counted non-citizens for purposes of determining
population. A German immigrant in Pennsylvania at that time, an Irish immigrant
in Massachusetts in 1850 and a Chinese immigrant in California in 1890 counted.
They might someday become citizens—save any of the Chinese, who were
permanently excluded—but they were counted.
The slaves were counted till 1860, even though they weren’t
legally persons, but, rather, property.
*
July 2019: Agents in the group found humor in describing
immigrants who died trying to cross the Rio Grande as “floaters.”
 |
| Mollie Tibbetts was murdered by an illegal immigrant. As a teacher, I'd pair these two pictures to foster a discussion on immigration. |
*
August 2019: AS FOR
KEEPING us safe with that big beautiful wall, which Trump swears is being
built, but even Fox News admits is not, we will now be “Keeping America Great”
by guarding against young immigrants who want to kill us by running us over in
wheelchairs.
Due to a
change in policy by the Trump administration, hundreds of immigrant children
receiving medical care in the U.S. are facing possible deportation. The
children are in the country legally and many suffer from serious diseases,
including cancer.
A
vibrating vest, nebulizer and special medication help keep 16-year-old Jonathan
Sanchez alive. He’s battling cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening disorder
damaging his lungs and digestive system. It also claimed the life of his sister
Samantha, back in Honduras, when she was just 6 months old.
The
family came to the U.S. legally in 2016 and applied for “medical deferred
action,” a program that allows immigrants to receive life-saving treatment for
up to two years. But, this week they received a denial notice [for renewal],
giving them 30 days to leave the country or face deportation.
“To
receive that letter is like a big hit,” said Gary Sanchez, Jonathan’s father. “I
don’t know what will happen with the future.”
In fact, Jonathan knows exactly what will happen. “The
letter, in the words, it said that we need to leave the country in 33 days. But
in my perspective, it’s making legal homicide,” he says.
This new
policy is so heartless that when CBS News seeks comment from officials at
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services, which share responsibility for implementing the change, no one “would
appear on camera.” An ICE official said the agency “was not consulted about the
policy change and only learned of it once those letters were sent out.”
Typical
of those facing deportation and a tacit sentence of death, is Maria Isabel
Bueso. Now 24, she came to this country at age 7, to receive treatment for a
rare genetic disorder. Doctors enrolled her in several studies. With her help
they managed to improve care for others suffering from the same crippling
disability.
“I have been feeling super scared and
overwhelmed,” Ms. Bueso told a reporter this week. As The New York Times
explained, her lower body is paralyzed from the disease, an enzyme disorder
that inhibits cells from processing sugars. “The treatment that I receive keeps
me alive,” she says.
Well,
too bad for you, young lady. Back to Guatemala, which you hardly remember, you
go!
*
September 2019: Daniel
McCarthy, running as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona, has
proposed a novel solution for the immigration crisis on our southern border.
McCarthy would like to shift the border slightly, by annexing Mexico
and turning Mexico into a bunch of new states.
In news
you may have missed, the Trump administration is working hard to keep us safe
from killer immigrants who want to slit our throats while we sleep, but in the
meantime also work construction. You know…people who tunnel
underground to…run storm water systems and subways.
New
rules mean that 400,000 people from six nations, who were granted
temporary protected status when their countries were hit by war, natural
disasters and waves of crime, may be asked to leave the U.S.
Many
have been living in the United States for twenty years. Most have deep roots in
this country. Combined, they have nearly 200,000 children born here, all
American citizens.
Those
200,000 might have to abandon the only country they have ever known if they
want to remain with their parents.
Ever
Guardado, 38, is typical. He works in construction, pays taxes, owns a home in
Sterling, Virginia, and has three children, all citizens by birth. “I thought I
would be secure forever,” he told reporters.
“Now
I’m scared every day.”
We can
assume his children are equally scared.
So,
“good job,” President Trump.
*
October 2019: Lt. Col.
Vindman is an immigrant. He and his family came to the United States as
refugees when he was three. He grew up here and joined the U.S. Army. Vindman
has served his adopted country for twenty years. He did a combat tour in Iraq
and collected a Purple Heart after an IED exploded nearby.
This
does not stop the right-wing nuts from attacking Vindman. The colonel is Jewish.
That means his religion brings out the anti-Semites who inhabit the fringes on
the right. At Breitbart, fury was expressed because Vindman appeared on Capitol Hill in uniform! Wearing medals!
On Fox News, pundit John Yoo agreed with Laura Ingraham, after she suggested that Vindman, who was born in Ukraine, when
it was part of the Soviet Union, might be involved in “spying” or “espionage.”
On CNN, Sean Duffy, a former GOP congressman, wondered if Vindman cared more
about what was good for Ukraine than America. Brian Kilmeade, on Fox &
Friends, echoed Duffy’s theory. Yes, it could it be that Vindman was
“simpatico” with Ukraine.
God
damn. Did these fools understand that it was Trump who made the questionable
phone call.
Vindman
merely listened to what he said.
A little
added context, then: Ingraham’s maternal grandparents were Polish immigrants.
Using Ingraham-logic, we can agree that’s suspicious. Her father was of Irish
and English extraction. Did she grow up eating crumpets! That’s not an American
meal! How about a burger and fries! Even more suspicious, Ingraham never joined
the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines! And she once worked for “Fake News”
MSNBC! How do we know she’s not a commie?
And Yoo!
Holy crap! He was born in South Korea! Using the same approach we watched Yoo
employ on Ingraham’s show, can’t we assume Yoo is trashing Vindman because Yoo
is a “spy” for his home country?
Yoo
never served in the U.S. military.
Does his
patriotism extend, as Washington Irving once said, only as far as the end of
his tongue?
Dr.
Fiona Hill: Like Lt. Col. Vindman, she was an immigrant, and deeply proud
of her adopted country. Her father was a coal miner in England, but she rose
from a humble background, earned a PhD. in Russian history, co-authored a book
on Putin, and went to work at NSC, first under General H.R. McMaster, later
under Bolton.
*
November 2019:
Stephen Miller the trusted White House aide and architect of the Trump
administration immigration policies, is once again in the news.
According
to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC),
leaked emails show that Miller promoted…surprise, surprise…white nationalism.
Miller
dodged public comment Tuesday, but White House Press Enabler Stephanie Grisham
said the SPLC was nothing but “an
utterly-discredited, long-debunked far-left smear organization.”
So, reporters wondered, was she saying Miller’s emails were fine?
Grisham admitted, lamely, that she hadn’t seen them.
The SPLC had, and said the source for more-than 900 emails was
Katie McHugh, a former writer and editor at Breitbart, who had
communicated regularly with Mr. Miller in 2015 and 2016. McHugh was 23 when she
started at Breitbart in 2014 and she was fired three years later, after
she posted a series of anti-Muslim tweets. She has since renounced her ties
with the far-right.
(Miller has not.)
In September 2015 Miller sent McHugh a book recommendation. She
should read The Camp of the Saints, which might inform her writing. As
summarized by Hatewatch, an arm of the SPLC,
Notably, “The Camp of the Saints” is popular among white
nationalists and neo-Nazis because of the degree to which it fictionalizes the
“white genocide” or “great replacement” myth into a violent and sexualized
story about refugees.
The
novel’s apocalyptic plot centers on a flotilla of Indian people who invade
France, led by a nonwhite Indian-born antagonist referred to as the “turd eater” – a character who literally eats human feces. In
one section, a white woman is raped to death by brown-skinned refugees. In
another, a nationalist character shoots and kills a pro-refugee leftist over
his support of race mixing. The white nationalist Social Contract Press plucked the 1973 book from
relative obscurity and distributed it in the United States.
Miller wasn’t done offering McHugh his help. In October 2015 he
sent her a story he found on a white nationalist website, VDARE. That site “traffics in the ‘white
genocide’ or ‘great replacement’ myth,
which suggests that nonwhite people are systematically and deliberately wiping
white people off the planet.”
Miller
had all kinds of racist bugaboos to share. It upset him when Amazon pulled
Confederate symbols for sale—just because Dylan Roof posed with the Rebel flag
before shooting nine African Americans to death at a Charleston, South Carolina
church. Miller suggested McHugh aggregate stories of crimes committed by
non-white immigrants. He was enthusiastic when McHugh agreed to do a story
on Chris Harper-Mercer, a college student
who killed nine at his school in Roseburg, Oregon. Could McHugh emphasize the
fact the killer was “mixed race?”
Miller lost interest when it turned out
Harper-Mercer espoused white supremacist beliefs.
It’s impossible to miss the drift of Miller’s
pro-white, anti-everyone else thinking. (Trump loves him, of course.) Miller
has long been a fan of writers who hate Muslims. He liked to send McHugh
links to InfoWars, a website which claims the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre
was faked. He cited the Immigration Act of 1924, holding it up as a model of
good legislation.
Interestingly enough, it was a model Hitler
praised too.
In fact, let’s let President Calvin Coolidge
explain from the grave why that 1924 law was so necessary and wise.
There are racial considerations too grave to be
brushed aside for any sentimental reasons. Biological laws tell us that certain
divergent people will not mix or blend. ….Quality of mind and body suggests
that observance of ethnic law is as great a necessity to a nation as
immigration law.
In fact,
according to SPLC, a review of all those hundreds of emails found no “examples of Miller writing
sympathetically or even in neutral tones about any person who is nonwhite or
foreign-born.”
*
Since
we’re on the topic of racists and racist policies, let’s hear it for President
Trump! The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to his effort to end the
DACA program once and for all.
Court
watchers believe the five conservatives justices are inclined to allow the
Trump plan to go forward. And that means 797,297 “Dreamers,” as they are
called, may soon be eligible for deportation.
The
rules for acceptance in the DACA program are strict. Applicants must have come to the U.S.
before age 16, must have been living here since June 15, 2012, must be in
school, have graduated from high school or earned a GED, must have been
honorably discharged from the Coast Guard or U.S. armed forces, and must have a
job.
A person
covered under DACA loses protection if they have felonies or serious
misdemeanors on their record.
“Some
are very tough, hardened criminals.”
All individuals
covered under this Obama-era program were brought to this country illegally,
but at an age where they had little say in the matter—or no say at all, since
many were too young to talk at the time. They settled here and grew up thinking
of themselves as Americans.
That
means it’s time for a hateful Trump tweet:
Many
of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from “angels.” Some are very
tough, hardened criminals. President Obama said he had no legal right
to sign order, but would anyway. If Supreme Court remedies with overturn, a
deal will be made with Dems for them to stay!
Later,
Trump cites Lou Dobbs, who claims that 53,792 DACA
recipients have criminal records. I think, in Lou’s mind, that proves we should
deport all 797,297 “Dreamers.” And toss their bags over the border fence, as
they leave.
By the
way, that would mean 8% of DACA recipients have criminal records vs. 29.5% of all American adults.
11/27/19: A report from the
National Center for Health Statistics notes that the fertility rate for the
United States fell to its lowest level ever in 2018. For every 1,000
women of child-bearing age, there were 59.1 births. Buried in the numbers,
there is one positive trend, with births to teen mothers down 70% since
1991. The decline among women in their 20’s and early 30’s is less positive.
At current rates (1.73 children per woman), and barring robust
immigration, the U.S. will soon begin to experience negative population growth.
12/30/19: Holy crap! The Trump Winery in Virginia fires at least seven employees who lack legal
immigration status.
Omar Miranda, who gave
his name, and a second worker who refused, both said they worked at Trump
Winery for more than a decade. Miranda noted that workers had finished the harvest
season, which meant 60-hour work weeks, sometimes picking grapes under
floodlights.
(Something tells this
blogger that the Trump Winery wasn’t paying overtime for these workers.)
According to the Washington
Post—“Fake News”—to all Trump fans, but a paper that contacted the Trump
Organization for comment, the Trump Winery “has long relied on a couple dozen
immigrants—primarily from Mexico—who legally arrive year after year on seasonal
work visas, living in a dormitory on the winery property during the harvest.”
But it was another group of year-round staff that got the axe just before the
end of the holiday season.
So, let’s recap:
1.
Trump can’t find American workers to do the grape-picking.
2.
He’s not willing to pay a wage that would attract them.
3.
He takes a chance and hires Mexicans.
And we all know, most
Mexicans who come here are “murderers” and “rapists.” Trump told us so.
(Over the past year, the
Post notes, it has spoken with at least 49 former Trump employees who
lacked proper immigration documentation.)
*
January 2020: Where
Trump is concerned, it’s impossible to tell where he stands on basic policy.
Does he, for instance, care what happens to the people of the Middle East? Or
does he only care about oil? When he first took office, Trump was on an
anti-Muslim crusade. His base was terrified. They believed Obama was a Muslim.
And all the Muslims in the world were out to get us.
So, we
had to block immigration from the Muslim world entirely. Trump tweeted
simplistic warning:
2/12/17: “72%
of refugees admitted into U.S. (2/3 -2/11) during COURT BREAK-DOWN [the federal
courts had blocked a travel ban implemented by the Trump administration] are
from 7 countries: SYRIA, IRAQ, SOMALIA, IRAN, SUDAN, LIBYA & YEMEN”
Our
newly-elected president should have known that many refugees from these countries were
Christians. Many were Muslims, but had worked for the U.S. military.
That made them unpopular in their own countries. They sought safety in America,
a nation they helped during the war.
Eventually,
he realized that not all Muslims were bad. He decided he liked Iranians, if
they protested against their government:
12/31/17: “Big
protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their
money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they
will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights
violations!”
Of
course, under Trump administration policies, if any leaders of those protests
might need to flee to avoid arrest or execution, they would not be welcome
as refugees in this country.
*
By comparison, NASA’s latest graduating class of
astronauts includes five women, out of eleven: Kayla Barron, Zena
Cardman, Jasmine Moghbeli (an Iranian-American immigrant), Loral O’Hara and
Jessica Watkins. “They are
the pioneers of the final frontier whose work will help fortify America’s
leadership in space for generations to come,” Senator Ted Cruz told the
audience for their graduation. “I am excited for the opportunities ahead of
them,” he added, “including landing the first woman ever on the surface of the
Moon, and having the first boots to step on Mars.”
*
Did
someone mention immigrants? (I mean, not counting the undocumented workers the
Trump Organization keeps having to fire?) Yes. Chad Wolf, acting secretary of
the Department of Homeland Security, warned on Wednesday that, “There has been a
complete breakdown of law & order in New York City.” He went on to add
in a tweet, “NYC proudly passed sanctuary city laws & bragged about it for
months. But now they, & more importantly, the citizens of NYC are facing
the deadly consequences of the sanctuary policies.”
At issue
is a heinous crime—on that all agree. Reeaz Khan, a 21-year-old man from Guyana,
has been arrested and charged in the brutal sexual assault and murder of
92-year-old Maria Fuertes earlier this month.
Got it?
Undocumented
immigrants want to kill us all—and if one undocumented worker or illegal
immigrant commits a crime anywhere in America, then we have a “complete
breakdown of law & order.”
*
March 2020:
Congratulations to marathoner Ms. Molly Seidel, who is joined on the U.S. Olympic team by first-place finisher
Aliphine Tuliamuk and Seidel’s
idol growing up, Sally Kipyego. Both women are natives of
Kenya, proof again that not all immigrants who enter the country legally, or
illegally, come here to kill Trump fans.
Abdirahman was born in
Somalia.
 |
| Seidel is joined on the team by several immigrants. |
SECOND GENERATION
If you start looking at
second-generation children of immigrants, the impact becomes even more
enormous. Sabrina Ionescu’s father, Dan, for example, fled Romania in 1989. Her
mother, Liliana Blaj, and an older brother, Andrei, were unable to rejoin him
until 1995. She was born two years later, eighteen minutes before her twin
brother Edward, in California, grew to 5' 11'' and
became a high school basketball star.
To get some idea of her prowess,
consider that her high school teams went 119-9 during her four years on the
team.
Recruited by Oregon, Ionescu
(pronounced “you-ness-coo”) became the prototype for a rapidly developing women’s
game. In February 2020, Ionescu became the first college player, male or
female, ever to have scored 2,000 points, grabbed 1,000 rebounds and handed out
1,000 assists in a career.
When I
was younger, I was always playing with the guys, and I had to find ways to get
the ball, because they never wanted to pass to me. So I figured that if I could
rebound, I would be able to get the ball myself.
Then
passing-wise, when I was in sixth grade playing with the eighth-grade team [a
boy’s club team, I believe], I was obviously a lot shorter, skinnier, smaller
than they were. I would just have to find ways to impact the game other than
shooting or scoring, and that was passing. … I think it just all kind of added
together on its own.
In middle school there weren’t
enough interested girls to form a squad. Ionescu remembers the experience. “My
middle school said I should be playing with dolls. Seriously, word-for-word. So
I went out and recruited a bunch of girls to sign up for the team, and then I
would just play. It’s funny now. I wish I could go back and just tell those
people they had made a mistake.”
Before she arrived, the Oregon Ducks
women’s games were games drawing announced crowds of 1,501.
Four years later, Ionescu and
her teammates were lacing it up and playing before average crowds of more than
10,000 excited fans. Even pro players like Steph Curry and Koby Bryant had
become fans. Before he and his daughter, Giana, died in a helicopter crash, the
Lakers great had brough his girl to watch Ionescu play—a role model for her—as
he had been a role model for Ionescu.
Ionescu spoke at his memorial
service on 2/24/20, and talked about how she had hoped to change the women’s
game, with Giana to help. She said she and Giana’s dad often texted each other.
Now, she said, she sometimes texted him, even though he was gone, always hoping,
somehow to get a response. The date was significant, “2,” Giana’s number, “24,”
Koby’s, “20,” the number of seasons Bryant played in the purple and gold.
Ionescu, know for playing with great intensity, herself, flew back to Corvallis
that night, led her team to victory, and grabbed the necessary rebound to
“join” the 2,000-1,000-1,000 club. It’s a small club, of course.
 |
| Why might the children of immigrants be more driven to succeed in America? |
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