Washington, DC — The Trump administration would like the public to think the harms of their anti-immigrant agenda and mass deportation crusade have rescinded and are hoping that Americans turn their attention elsewhere. Below are three reminders and examples of why we cannot afford to:
- Cruelty: The horrific details surrounding the death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam demand an investigation and embody the callous and dehumanizing cruelty inherent to mass deportation. As a report in Mother Jones noted: “Shah Alam, a Blind, seriously ill Rohingya refugee from Burma who does not speak English, was found dead in Buffalo—five days after Border Patrol dropped him off on a street corner without notifying his family.” As his attorney Benjamin Macaluso said: “He cannot use a phone. He doesn’t know his address, he doesn’t know phone numbers, he can’t communicate, he can’t see. And they just left him.”
- Corruption: Yesterday, Columbia University student Ellie Aghayeva was detained by plainclothes ICE agents who gained entrance to her university-owned apartment building and actual apartment by lying about who they were and pretending they were searching for a missing child. As the New York Times noted, then ICE, “A public security officer arrived and asked for a warrant, which was not produced … They refused to give the officer time to call his supervisor, and they then took the student.” After university, public, and lawmaker outrage, Ms. Aghayeva was released, but the details capture the duplicity and corruption that often characterizes mass deportation in action.
- Belief They are Above the Law: Yesterday, Minnesota’s chief federal judge Patrick Schiltz – a George W. Bush appointee and former clerk of Antonin Scalia – threatened to hold government officials in criminal contempt for ignoring 210 court orders issued in 143 different cases in Minnesota alone related to ICE and immigration enforcement actions. As Judge Schiltz noted, “The court is not aware of another occasion in the history of the United States in which a federal court has had to threaten contempt — again and again and again — to force the United States government to comply with court orders.”
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“The Trump administration would like the American public to move on from the cruelty, chaos and corruption built into their anti-immigrant agenda. Yet as much as they’d like to gloss over the abuse of power, we have daily examples of the relentless violence and chaos that serve as reminders why we can’t afford to look away. Trump/Miller and their allies are still violating the law, endangering lives and inflicting harm on American communities and families, citizens and non-citizens alike. We still must hold the line, hold the perpetrators accountable and force real change.”
