You have seen the television coverage. Four or five masked and heavily armed paramilitary personnel stopping a car, removing the driver, smashing the windshield, and then throwing the driver on the ground beating him or her unconscious, two or three crying children in the back seat. This was happening every day last week in our country, mainly but not exclusively in the Twin Cities. Where we now live in a suburb of Washington the same thing is happening every day though not to the degree as in the Twin Cities. At the moment there seems to be a pause, but it could soon start up again depending on what the Democrats and Republicans agree on related to the ICE brutality and what Trump and his core of sycophants decide to do.
Do you disagree that this is happening right now in the United States? No, you say, I am overreacting. My reply is “Welcome to the Fascist Police State of the (formerly) United States of America.”
Will the skirmishes between protesters and immigration enforcers lead to more brutality, more violence and more incarcerations and deportations? Of course they will. And it is going to get worse, much worse. ICE now has about 25,000 personnel with the number projected to double every few months. They have a five year budget of over $72 billion– yes that is spelled with a “b,” and they offer $50,000 signing bonuses and good salaries. And who are these bullies who pound unarmed people seemingly at will? Where do they come from? It seems to many eerily similar to what happened in Nazi Germany during the 1930s as Hitler rose to power. Some observers have warned that ICE could morph into Trump’s own private police force taking revenge not only on undocumented workers but people who speak out against him. That means people like me and people like you. This is not a false alarm. This is a five alarm fire threatening to destroy communities and our country.
Others who follow Trump’s actions have pointed out that what we are witnessing now is merely a shot across the bow. Just wait until the concentration camps get built, run by private prison companies and allies of Trump. The construction of these tent camps has already begun mainly in remote areas where those who are arrested will never been seen again. Out of sight out of mind.
Part of my fear is that those who are offended by these actions of brutality will before too long get numb to the suffering. We will just wear out.
Here are the facts. According to the Pew Research Center there are approximately 14 million undocumented people living in the United States. What are Trump’s goals? To have them all thrown out and deported mostly to countries they did not come from or are locked up in concentration camps by the end of his term in a couple of years. At least at is what some of his advisers are saying. Seven million a year? That translates to over 19,000 people on average every day of the year. Friends, this is insanity. The only way this could happen would be to create a police state where basically no one is safe. Masked men carrying weapons, beating down doors without a valid warrant issued by a judge. Almost every community in the country would be affected as would almost every industry. Do you know how important immigrant labor is for farmers? Without them our food production system would be devasted. Ditto for the construction industry and home building. And what about the caregivers all across America? I just spent a week at Holy Cross Hospital and another week in assisted living at Collington and every caregiver I had in both locations spoke with a heavy accent and had names that mostly sounded African. Does anyone think that the health care system could function or that the economy could survive without immigrants? They do the necessary and important that many Americans do not want to do. To think that Trump could pull this off is a pipe dream. Plus, all of us who are not native Americans are descendants of immigrants. We are a nation of immigrants. This is what has made us great.
So if this is a pipe dream, you could argue that would mean that Trump will not be able to do what he wanted, so why bother? Besides, his business pals in health care, construction, and agriculture will not let him go too far, right? When their businesses are hurt, they will work something out.
Really?
Don’t count on it.
Folks, we are dealing with a person who is not playing with a full deck. No, he can’t pull this off, but what he can do is cause irreparable harm and suffering. We have no choice. We must resist. Let’s hear it for those brave people in the Twin Cities who braved temperatures near zero to stand in resistance. They are an inspiration.
For now, people of good will must speak out and stand with others providing help to people who are threatened by Trump’s inhumane crackdown on undocumented people. The place to start is the internet. Most communities have immigration support organizations in place. Find out who they are. Give them money. Volunteer to help. Tell your friends. And speak out! This also may be an area where there is some common ground between evangelical Christians and the mainline protestant churches and especially the Catholic Church, which at least in the Washington metro area is a leader in the effort to resist and push back against ICE.
So as to the question of civil war? What do you think the chances are? Everything I have read suggests that a full scale civil war like our country experienced in the 1860s is highly unlikely. The country is not divided according to geography as was the case then. Yes, we have solidly blue and red states but in each community there are sharp divisions. Plus, we Americans are not “bad people.” We are not “evil” though there may be evil people among us. But there are not as many as you would think. And just look at the political surveys. Trump’s support has tanked. A large majority of us are appalled at that they see happening.
Much of the division in our country can be explained by I would call the human condition. Friends, we humans are members of the animal kingdom. Human-like creatures did not appear as a species until about 3.5 million years ago and we Homo sapiens are newbies. We have only been around for a few hundred thousand years on a planet in a solar system that was created from cosmic dust about two billion years ago. Bottom line: we are animals. It was not until we discovered fire and the importance of banding together in family groups and villages that we were able to rise up the food chain. But animals we are and animals we will remain. Which means that self-preservation is a big motivator and that when feel threatened we fight back. Food is no longer a big issue, but security still is, and people who feel threatened or insecure are likely to fight back. This is part of our survival instinct. It got us where we are today. So, I look at the MAGA base and other Trump supporters who feel threatened by the modern world we find ourselves in and take sides when they feel threatened. I can understand this. Lord knows, there is much to feel threatened about in our time. This also does not mean that people who disagree with us are all “deplorables.” But it does mean that we have to stand our ground, try to win them over, and to fight peacefully for what we in our heart of hearts believe is right.
Embry and I participated in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and it was a profound experience for us. We have been bleeding hearts ever since. It seems we can’t help ourselves. (I have written a book about the experience, Civil Rights Journey. Available on Amazon. Cheap.) What this means in these troubling times is that we must stand up for what we believe is right and in this time in history join the effort to fight Trump’s crackdown on undocumented people. I hope you will join the cause.

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