I’ll piggyback on TedF’s commentary below, since Ted frames the issue exactly as I would. There’s a legal issue, and a moral one, and we’ve got to find a way to reconcile the two. The more immorally the law is implemented, the stronger and somewhat messier must be the response. Sand must be put in the gears of a rapacious legal and police machine. We have resources.
First, the principles: We affirm a commitment to human dignity above all. We prefer, and demand, a society that is open and diverse. We demand that the United States be a safe harbor and refuge for those who are persecuted elsewhere — for reasons of ethnicity, religion, or political action. We value our immigrant neighbors. We live in diverse communities and wouldn’t have it any other way. This is America.
This puts us utterly at odds with the explicit racism of Trump, his administration, and indeed much of his base. Trump’s action is no surprise: His ascendency in the GOP — over people like Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, say — was fueled by his unvarnished viciousness towards immigrants. That’s what the Republican Party is today: A party of xenophobia and white nationalism. #MAGA itself is a not-very-subtle statement of exclusion.
The racists are wrong and we are right. Our commitment must be that we win, and they lose.
It means that a simple respect for human rights must be the absolute baseline of any immigration policy. If we are good people, we don’t abuse others in prison. Good people don’t break up families. Good people don’t ship other people back to places where they may be murdered. Good people don’t deport children (nor adults) who have grown up in the United States and have hardly known another home.
The administration’s actions must motivate action in Massachusetts. Specifically, we need to pass the Safe Communities Act, which will prohibit local police forces from being forced to cooperate with ICE, which has become a monstrous arm of cruelty and human rights abuse.
From the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA):
One in six Massachusetts residents is an immigrant. Yet under the Trump administration, our immigrant friends, neighbors and coworkers are being demonized and targeted for mass deportation. The federal government wants state and local law enforcement to serve as “force multipliers” for its crackdown on immigrants. The Safe Communities Act would stop that from happening in our state.
The Safe Communities Act protects the civil rights, safety and well-being of all residents by drawing a clear line between immigration enforcement and public safety. Sponsored by State Sen. Jamie Eldridge (S.1305) and State Rep. Juana Matías (H.3269), it ensures that our tax dollars are not used to help the Trump administration deport immigrant families or create a Muslim registry.
In this we will have to confront Charlie Baker himself, who has floated a proposal to have State Police cooperate with ICE in certain cases, and whose public statements show, as usual, an insipid mildness to an ongoing affront to human decency: “I’m hoping the president doesn’t repeal the DACA program.” Not exactly Churchill, this guy.
This is it — another chapter in our Niemöller moment.
fredrichlariccia says
” An attack on one of is an attack on all of .”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
SomervilleTom says
There is no way to confront the explicit racism, bigotry, and misogyny of this administration (and of the entire political party that put it in power and continues to enable it) without naming the racism, bigotry, and misogyny of the voters who put these racists, bigots, and misogynists in charge.
Here’s what I demand from a Trump voter who wants me to respect him or her — and then enter a dialog about comes next:
1. Explicitly admit that voting for Mr. Trump was the wrong choice.
2. Commit or recommit to seeking a government that rejects racism, sexism, and misogyny.
3. Express a desire to find common ground with me, including a desire that I “let bygones be bygones”.
These three steps are essentially those demanded by Desmond Tutu in his successful leadership of the program to heal the wounds of apartheid in South Africa. They are also the three steps outlined in the traditional Christian church for how a penitent may achieve reconciliation with the Church (and with God, for those who embrace the belief system). It is important to note, regarding the latter, that each and every man, women and child is a “sinner” who is expected to go through this process at least once per week as part of the preparation for receiving the sacraments.
We will not get there by ignoring the racism, bigotry, and misogyny of the voters who so badly abused their electoral privilege.
tedf says
I don’t claim to have the answer to our political dilemmas, but I do think that this kind of eschatological hankering for political Ragnarok is a recipe for electoral disaster and wrong in principle. The answer is to have a vision that attracts, not to seek to punish the evildoers, namely your fellow citizens.
SomervilleTom says
I don’t know anything about “Ragnarok”, political or otherwise. I am not a fan of Norse mythology.
Nowhere have I proposed to “punish the evildoers”. This comes perilously close to a false dilemma. What I am saying that we should NOT do is “reach out”, “build bridges”, or any of the the other euphemisms for pandering that too many Democrats currently demand..
I suggest that we INVITE any former Donald Trump voter to join our camp. We provide a “welcoming hearth”, where we can with empathy and understanding help them see the actual origins of their prejudices and help them see how to heal past those prejudices. That is most certainly NOT punishment.
It does, however, begin with a simple and easy to understand starting point — the former Donald Trump voter must approach us with an openness to our perspective. That is the criteria that I attempted outline above. It is familiar to any mainstream Christian denomination that does reasonable evangelism (I’m talking Roman Catholic, Episcopal,. Methodist, UCC, etc — NOT bible-thumping Protestant evangelicals). Hence my reference to Desmond Tutu.
What does NOT work is attempting to change minds, hearts, and — yes — souls before the target is ready to hear us and ready to change. Because such an approach is not effective at changing those target voters, inevitable pressure builds to change our values and policies in order to “avoid alienating” them. So we carefully do as some here argue — say absolutely nothing about racism, bigotry, sexism, and all the rest, and attempt to appeal to unrestrained self-interest by promising “good jobs” or “middle-class income” or “free health care” or whatever the gambit is.
It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work, because it doesn’t even acknowledge — never mind address — the fundamental disconnect between the values that we hold dear and a voter who hates “blacks”, hates “wetbacks”, blames “illegals” and “Muslims” for their woes, who despises “uppity” women that “have an attitude”, and on and on and on.
The Episcopal church began ordaining women decades ago. The first openly gay Episcopal bishop (Gene Robinson) has already retired. The same denomination wasted more than a decade courting intransigent “conservatives” who objected to those changes. The better alternative would have been for the denomination to say, at the very beginning of that process, “this is what we believe — feel free to leave if you cannot accept that”.
That’s not “punishing” anyone. It is, instead, being clear about values.
If we truly hold our Democratic values dear, then we have no tolerance for those Donald Trump voters who still think they made the right choice. It doesn’t matter whether the result of that wins or loses elections, because if we don’t hold those values dear than winning elections won’t make even a tiny bit of difference.
fredrichlariccia says
” Repealing DACA in order to MAGA is a load of CACA.” Stephen Colbert
tedf says
Well, you want them to come grovelling. “Hi, I’m running for office, and I’d like to talk! But before we start talking, I’ll need you to admit that your vote for Donald Trump was wrong; that you’re a racist and a misogynist (or at least that you abetted racism and misogyny). So can I count on you in November?”
fredrichlariccia says
Dems will attach Dream Act to all must pass bills if it isn’t brought to the floor as a clean bill.
thegreenmiles says
I’m for almost-unlimited immigration because – and I’ve put a lot of thought into this – who cares
jconway says
I actually appreciate the approach my church (Catholic) and the evangelical churches are taking. Strongly wrapping support for DACA children as a pro-family, pro-life issue and one no Christian can conscientiously oppose or ignore. Even right wing culture warriors like Charles Chaput came out against it. So hopefully that’s one base the GOP and its president can listen to, and it’s definitely being mobilized. The mainline and progressive churches are also doing a great job-as are Jewish groups which also have bipartisan credibility and the business community.
Just ask Trump voters if this is what they voted for. The nose holders certainly didn’t. And put names, faces and stories to this fight. Katherine Clark said on WBUR that the pro-dreamer side would win in a walk in the House as well as the Senate. The silver lining to this is that the GOP can’t hide their opposition behind Obamas “overreach”. They own this tragedy if they fail to own bipartisan reform with the Democrats.