News
‘Crimes Against Humanity’: Trump’s Plan to Deport ‘Millions of Illegal Aliens’ – and Separate Parents From Kids – Draws Outrage
President Donald Trump Monday night, less than 24 hours before he officially kicks off his re-election campaign, leaked details of a secret U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation that has been in the planning stages for months.
“Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in,” Trump tweeted at 9:20 PM ET.
The Washington Post, three minutes before midnight, published its report based on the President’s surprise tweet, revealing details of ICE’s plan.
“The family arrest plan has been considered even more sensitive than a typical operation because children are involved, and Homeland Security officials retain significant concerns that families will be inadvertently separated by the operation, especially because parents in some households have deportation orders but their children — some of whom are U.S. citizens — might not,” The Post reports. “Should adults be arrested without their children because they are at school, day care, summer camp or a friend’s house, it is possible parents could be deported while their children are left behind.”
Many took to social media to express in the strongest terms possible their outrage.
The cruelty is the point. https://t.co/EmGpELYrK7
— Soledad O’Brien (@soledadobrien) June 18, 2019
So many ask: “What can we do?” Bring daily pressure on your senators & representatives. Daily. Build it into your schedules. Daily. Do it in the company of supportive relatives, friends or activists, if that helps keep you on task. Daily. “They won’t care” is not a strategy. https://t.co/TFMTopcaUM
— Connie Schultz (@ConnieSchultz) June 18, 2019
Another thing we know is that whenever you’re feeling insecure and threatened you always start spewing hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric. Gotta fire-up and distract the brainwashed base, right? So predictable! #Trump
— Andy Ostroy (@AndyOstroy) June 18, 2019
8 U.S. Code § 1158: “Any alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States, irrespective of such alien’s status, may apply for asylum in accordance with this section.”
Seeking asylum is legal. This order violates US law by denying asylum.
— Zach (@snowflakejw) June 18, 2019
“Should adults be arrested without their children because they are at school, day care, summer camp or a friend’s house, it is possible parents could be deported while their children are left behind.”
Abominable — and exactly what he said he would do. https://t.co/M64vY9zdnH
— Michelangelo Signorile (@MSignorile) June 18, 2019
It can’t happen here, they said https://t.co/IVaJxDbiYd
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 18, 2019
What’s Spanish for Kristallnacht?
Trump needs a public distraction from his very bad week. Time for the Nazi playbook.
“Trump vows mass immigration arrests, removals of ‘millions of illegal aliens’ starting next week” https://t.co/f9e30lEnp1
— C-Beam (@SpaceAvian) June 18, 2019
First children in concentration camps at the border.
Now, ethnic cleansing.
We cannot bear to turn a blind eye to atrocities happening in our names as Americans any longer.https://t.co/SizTmoaz7S
— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) June 18, 2019
Notice the concern was only the public reaction. They didn’t stop to say, “Immigrants are human beings and abusing them in the name of white nationalism is wrong.” https://t.co/tT0GXDamUm pic.twitter.com/cXdf1kKJLL
— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) June 18, 2019
Trump announces mass immigrant roundups focusing on parents and children. Yes – children.
Remember in 2016 when people said “oh he won’t do mass deportations. He’ll just focus on hardcore criminals.” Welp. https://t.co/mSWlSuJPWq— Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) June 18, 2019
Does anyone Kristallnacht see the implications of this?
— Eric Wolfson (@EricWolfson) June 18, 2019
It’s not #ProLife to threaten, foment fear & rip families apart — or deport people into poverty & violence.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”https://t.co/6BNXcwzTIl
— Marcus Mescher (@marcusmescher) June 18, 2019
Niemoller ‘.Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.’https://t.co/NS7jD1rxe7
— Jerry Lanson (@jerrylanson) June 18, 2019
If you’ve ever wondered how you would behave if you’d been alive in the lead up to the Holocaust, the answer is “you’re doing it right now.”https://t.co/01zWZeDUXt
— Sherry Frost 🍑 (@frostnhstaterep) June 18, 2019
“Should adults be arrested without their children because they are at school, day care, summer camp or a friend’s house, it is possible parents could be deported while their children are left behind.” If they really do this, it’ll be unimaginably horrific. https://t.co/G4Hu7OdV9x
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) June 18, 2019
Image by Joe Brusky via Flickr and a CC license
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.