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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSorry George Takei but you are wrong on one key point
Mr. Takei is one of the great prophets of our age, he really is and his writings are thought provoking, humorous and kind.
Today Nevilledog posted this excellent thread which recounts his family's internment and the need for solidarity in opposing this administration. If you missed it please read and rec it.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100214073417
But he is dead wrong on one point:
Today, I have no doubt that if something similar happened to one group of people, there would be massive protests and an upswell of support. From this I understand thatwWe have learned much as a country. But its also very easy for us to forget, to be misled, to diminish. /6
Today something very similar to the internment of 112,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese residents of three states (WA OR and CA) has happened.
Nearly 600,000 legal residents of the United States holding social security cards, living legally in the US for over 20 years will have their legal status taken away and can be forced out of the US without any further legal recourse.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/9/14/21436633/ninth-circuit-tps-trump-temporary-protected-status
A federal appeals court has upheld President Donald Trumps decision to take away legal protections for 400,000 immigrants, who could be deported next year if he wins reelection despite having put down roots in the US over years or even decades.
Citizens of El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan have been able to stay in the US through Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a protection typically offered to citizens of countries experiencing natural disasters or armed conflict that allows them to legally live and work in the US. Against the advice of senior State Department officials, Trump tried to end TPS for those countries starting in November 2017, arguing that conditions have improved enough that their citizens can now safely return.
The TPS system was initiated under the Bush Administration and continued and extended under the Obama Administration. The legislation was repeatedly passed by near unanimous bi partisan support. The reasoning was clear, if a country was destroyed by an earthquake, hurricane or civil war it was fruitless to try and send undocumented workers back where an economy didn't exist.
In the first case we need these workers. I know one TPS worker whose boss told me that if he were to leave he would have to hire 3 workers to replace him because he had over the years (he was hired when he was 16) gained a combination of skills no other worker has.
Beyond that it was good for rebuilding the broken economies because these workers send money back to their families.
They enrolled in the program under draconian, but fair, restrictions. You can't break any rule or you go home. I knew one fellow who went with friends to visit relatives in Toronto. He could not return to the US and was returned to El Salvador where he hadn't been in 15 years and had no connections.
I was walking with one TPS fellow near midnight in an urban area and with no cars within miles crossed the street. Reaching the other side I turned to see him waiting patiently for the "do not walk" sign to turn. Another fellow went to play soccer with some Mexican friends. When he saw that after the game they all had a single beer he refused the ride and walked 8 miles home because he didn't want to be in a car that might be pulled over for a DUI.
They have married American citizens and they are parents of American citizens.
They lived here legally for decades. Only one politician targeted them.
One of the elements that they agreed to was that they agreed that they would have no legal standing to sue if the TPS was revolked so today's ruling was not a surprise.
Over the years I have arranged to be added to the speakers list for the demonstrations for DACA or immigration reform. I got myself added to an AFL CIO state round table discussion of immigration issues (at least they knew about it at the AFL CIO). I have badgered a few TV appearances but there is no traction. These folks from Haiti, El Salvador, Nepal and elsewhere have no profile.
So today, George, a group of people 5 times larger than the odious internment of Japanese Americans and Japanese Residents just lost all of their legal standing. If one of them is involved in a traffic accident (like the SD Attorney General) they will be taken to jail and handled to ICE even though they never committed a crime and returned to a country they have not seen for decades, many leaving when they were children.
They will never appear before an Immigration Court.
Fascism doesn't require mass murder and ovens. It can be done with cages for children or by simply moving one group of people from the legal side of the ledger to the illegal side. Their lives can be destroyed in the same way that Dredd Scott's was with just a movement of a pen on paper.
So, I love you to death George and my daughter's initiative in getting your autograph consists of my entire collection of autographs but today 600,000 legal residents lives were put into jeopardy and there will be no demonstrations. It will not rise to be noticed even on MSNBC and even caring communities like DU will hardly notice.
This is how great countries are made into mean trivial pathetic embarrassments, one petty but devastating injustice at a time.
And no unfortunately the massive protests will not result in bodies in the streets but there might be some very eloquent tweets and facebook postings.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,111 posts)Alacritous Crier
(3,816 posts)MyNameGoesHere
(7,638 posts)grantcart
(53,061 posts)ismnotwasm
(41,979 posts)grumpyduck
(6,234 posts)to Pluto or beyond.
Mersky
(4,981 posts)I care, we on DU and elsewhere do care. Am weary from the constant barrage of news, but I can feel their terror under the tRump regime.
Worked with one such lady who had the skill set of three master craftsmen. Theres no way I could keep up with her in the shop, and she had a second job at night cleaning office buildings. Deeply respect her and miss my days learning from her. I worry for her and all the many others.
The first thing thats needed to protect them is awareness, and youve done that extremely well right here. The numbers are staggering and the fascism is obvious. I can do a better job of helping remind and inform on this front.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)Solly Mack
(90,766 posts)brer cat
(24,565 posts)crickets
(25,979 posts)Kind of Blue
(8,709 posts)grantcart
(53,061 posts)zentrum
(9,865 posts)
when he said that.
jorgevlorgan
(8,292 posts)But something similar is happening to a group of people, and well...