Whose America Is This Anyway?

A Saturday Prompt

Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem mis-handling her weapon and abusing her duty. (Photo is a video screenshot)

This has been a tough week for those who believe that diversity is our strength, immigration built America, we should take pride in our capacity for generosity and decency, and free speech and due process are at the heart of our commitment to democracy and justice. The Trump regime continues to prove that cruelty and the desecration of these basic principles and rights is its purpose.

Yesterday an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and pro-Palestinian student activist, could be deported. You recall that Khalil was taken into custody a month ago from his Manhattan apartment building and sent 1,300 miles away to a detention center in Louisiana. The decision followed Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s submission of a two-page memo that used an obscure statute to argue that Khalil’s presence “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States” and “would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.”

You don’t have to agree with the political views of Khalil, whose American wife is about to give birth, to recognize that this ruling jeopardizes the safety of anyone in America who expresses views that are not shared by the Trump regime. Here’s what Khalil’s attorney, Marc Van Der Hout, said after the decision: “Mahmoud was subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing, and a weaponization of immigration law to suppress dissent.”

This followed a Supreme Court ruling on Thursday that the government must “facilitate” the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from the notorious El Salvador prison after he was wrongly deported. Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland with his wife and three special needs children, came to America to escape gang violence, according to his lawyers.

While the Court’s decision was unanimous, the Trump regime is continuing to drag its feet to seek his release, with the Justice Department instead emphasizing that the decision recognized that “it is the exclusive prerogative of the president to conduct foreign affairs.” We have plenty of reason to expect that they will work to reject the separate statement of the Supreme Court’s three liberal justices, that is, “to provide Abrego Garcia with all the process to which he would have been entitled had he not been unlawfully removed to El Salvador.”

As wrong as these individual violations are, an email sent to thousands of people yesterday by the Department of Homeland Security escalates the abuse. The automated note refers to the “termination of parole” and seeks to frighten its recipients by warning that if they don’t leave the U.S. “immediately you will be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal.” Among the recipients of this threat were many American citizens, green card holders “and even a Canadian (in Canada),” as noted by a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. In a normal world, we could make light of the obvious incompetence, but these Trump operatives are determined to pursue mass deportation by any means necessary.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the flood of desecrations the regime is pursuing. There are days when it’s become increasingly hard to recognize the country we know and love. They want us—and the whole world—to believe that cruelty and injustice are now the American way.

That’s why I underscore that there is America and then there’s Trump’s America. Patriotic Americans oppose this regime’s hostility to decency, humanity, democracy and justice. Rather than be discouraged by or despairing over the scale of abuse, our collective effort must not hesitate to confront and overcome it. And that includes refusing to accept that this regime defines what is America.

So what do you think? Whose America is this anyway? Has the flood of attacks led you to doubt the values, principles and rights upon which our nation was founded? Has it made you wonder if these bad actors really represent the majority? Or do you see this as a horrendous but temporary chapter from which we will emerge and begin to repair the massive damage?

As always, I look forward to your thoughts and the opportunity of this community to learn from each other. These are challenging times, which make our collective engagement so critical. Please be respectful in your remarks. Trolling will not be tolerated.

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