I’m deeply terrified by the anti-immigrant fervor gripping America right now. Especially a recent remark made by President Trump. He said that our country is “infested” with immigrants. This is not a flippant choice of words. Like most of his rhetoric, it’s is deeply white supremacist, and is aimed at dehumanizing specific groups of people. That’s frightening enough. But what I find particularly terrifying about this most recent comment is the glimmer of intent behind it. How does one resolve an “infestation”? When we allow ourselves to see others as something less than human, that’s when all manner of horrors suddenly become justifiable possibilities.
The leap from internment to extermination is very much shorter than I think we’d all care to believe. And for those who call me an alarmist for saying so— who think that such a thing could never happen in America— I would remind you that it’s already happened.
Children in America have been ripped from their parents and put in cages. The President has passed an executive order to supposedly stop the separations, but which actually allows for the indefinite detention of these families. There is no plan in place for reuniting the more than 2,000 children who’ve already been taken from their parents. The Trump Administration’s cruel and unnecessary “zero tolerance” policy remains in place.
Here, in Vermont, we’ve passed policies that speak to a sentiment of making our state a “sanctuary”, which keep us from feeding into the hateful frenzy, and which provide aid and comfort to those seeking freedom and opportunity.
There are lots of things you can do to help. Here are just a few:
- Sign our petition that urges Gov. Phil Scott to ensure that Vermont does not in any way aid and abet this inhumane treatment of people who are seeking a better life in our country.
- Donate to one of the wonderful legal aid and immigrants’ rights groups working to unite children and families. Donate here.
- Join concerned citizens and activist groups rallying at the State House on Monday, June 25th at 6pm. Click for details.
- Join the Washington, DC Civil Disobedience Action on Thursday, June 28th. Click for details.
- Join one of the many direct actions taking place across the state on Saturday June 30th. Click here to find one near you.
- There will be a national action co-hosted by our national partner People’s Action and many others. They are pulling together a mass rally in front of the White House on Saturday, June 30th. Contact Jessica Juarez Scruggs at People’s Action, (206) 321-0803, or j.juarezscruggs@peoplesaction.org
- Call Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch and urge them to fight the Trump administration’s egregious policy of indefinite internment and caging families in warehouses or on military bases.
- Share this People’s Action video footage of children being moved on commercial flights while down in TX. MSNBC released it.
- FB First Video: https://www.facebook.com/pplsaction/videos/10155657611208123/
- FB Second Video: https://www.facebook.com/pplsaction/videos/10155657634518123/
- YT first video: https://youtu.be/ENv-Ddl3ERk
- YT second video: https://youtu.be/2pURwvPkFNg