"Republicans who are pushing for more restrictive immigration policy ahead of a pivotal election year continue to lean on an old strategy in their appeal to voters: broadly framing immigrant men as dangerous next to imagery of young White women victims."
This #fascistic pig is pledging to rip up the #Constitution, and impose some sort of religious test for #immigrants. This is such a brazen violation of the plain text of the Constitution that I don't think it's more than absurd pandering to his #Christofascist base, but the threat should compel everyone to stand in defense of the nation, and #VoteBlue like our future depends on it.
"In the past days, we have learned that the six maintenance workers killed when the bridge collapsed were all immigrants, natives of Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Around 39% of the workforce in the construction industry around Baltimore and Washington, D.C., about 130,000 people, are immigrants, Scott Dance and María Luisa Paúl reported in the Washington Post yesterday."
"Some of the men were undocumented, and all of them were family men who sent money back to their home countries, as well. From Honduras, the nephew of one of the men killed told the Associated Press, 'The kind of work he did is what people born in the U.S. won’t do. People like him travel there with a dream. They don’t want to break anything or take anything.'"
"In the Philadelphia Inquirer today, journalist Will Bunch castigated the right-wing lawmakers and pundits who have whipped up native-born Americans over immigration, calling immigrants sex traffickers and fentanyl dealers, and even 'animals.' Bunch illustrated that the reality of what was happening on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed creates an opportunity to reframe the immigration debate in the United States."
"When the Dali cargo ship demolished that bridge support on Tuesday, it also obliterated all the ridiculous lies and myths our demagogues have been spreading around immigration. There were no sex traffickers aboard the Key Bridge that night. Nobody was dealing fentanyl."
"They were not 'animals,' but fathers and husbands like Suazo and Luna, whose wife occasionally showed up in her food truck to bring the men tacos and pupusas. They were filling potholes so their children could have an even better life.
These six workers who perished were not 'poisoning the blood of our country,' they were replenishing it."
"As of this writing, Trump has said nothing at all about the Key bridge collapse. And why would he? It can not after all be blamed on the Democratic mayor of Baltimore, or the Democratic governor of Maryland, or the Democratic president of the United States. The men killed in the accident were immigrants, rather than blue-collar white men. So as far as Trump is concerned, it merits no comment."
"No condolences to the families of the dead; no assurances to the affected communities that he intends to be their president, too.
Left to his own devices, Trump will either continue to ignore the incident, or he’ll respond only when prompted by an ally in right-wing media. Extrapolating from his response to every other tragedy, he might assert monomaniacally that the accident simply wouldn’t have happened if he’d been president."
"Immigration is Trump’s sweet spot. He can dehumanize brown people and advocate for harsh deportation policies that would require a rabid MAGA police state to implement. Immigration is also the one issue where Trump has most shaped the GOP into his own image."
“While we’re being talked about as like this invading horde that’s coming to destroy the country, what does this story actually show us? That immigrants are filling our potholes at night so that we can have a smooth drive to work in the morning.”
~ Maximillian Alvarez, editor-in-chief of the Baltimore-based Real News Network
Finished this book last night: “The Great Escape - A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America.”
I really recommend it; it’s well-written and the author, Saket Soni, is an Indian-born, at one time undocumented (like his subjects) immigrant who was the organizer that got their case through and ultimately a significant level of justice (though many perpetrators didn’t face consequences). #labor#immigration#immigrants
“Does America need a more searing visual image than eight men working for their piece of the America dream — filling potholes on a terrifying bridge in 1 a.m. darkness — to understand that our nation was built by immigrants, runs on immigrant labor and needs immigrants?”
“Today, #immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than all US-born men, and 30% less likely to be incarcerated relative to white US-born men.”
There is also state level research, that shows similar results: researchers at the #CATOInstitute, a #CONSERVATIVE#LIBERTARIAN think tank, looked into #Texas in 2019. They found that undocumented #immigrants were 37.1% less likely to be convicted of a #crime.
From Stanford’s Institute for #Economic Policy Research (SIEPR); #Politics & #Media, Research.
Ran Abramitzky & co-authors uncovered the most extensive evidence to date that #immigrants are less likely to be imprisoned than #UnitedStates -born individuals.
‘The mythical tie between immigration & #crime’
Much of the data focuses on incarceration rates because that's where [#immigration status is recorded.]
"In May 2021, Thorpe had issued a formal apology for Antioch’s mistreatment of early Chinese immigrants, including the torching of Chinatown and driving out its residents, which has been documented by local newspapers and historians. Thorpe’s actions led to major cities like San Jose, Los Angeles and San Francisco passing similar resolutions."
They need these migrants to do work no one else wants to do. They admit that this is how things are.
At the same time, they want these migrants who do work that no one else in their community wants to do to know they're unwelcome.
This is a very American story. It says something about many of us Americans that is deeply disturbing and which explains why Trump, with his hate-filled attacks on migrants, appeals to so many of us.
"This week’s coverage of the threat of Christian nationalism and the 2024 election began with an opinion piece I wrote about what Donald Trump said last weekend regarding immigrants not being human. This piece somehow resonated with our readers and has become the most-read piece of the week, for which I am grateful."
~ Mark Wingfield
Note: though the link below says there's an issue, it takes you to this posting.
"In today’s America, the right wing seems to be echoing its antebellum predecessors. It is attacking women’s rights; diversity, equity, and inclusion programs; immigration; LGBTQ+ rights and so on. At the same time, it continues to push an economic system that has moved as much as $50 trillion from the bottom 90% to the top 10% since 1981 while exploding the annual budget deficit and the national debt."
"Just as it was in the 1850s, the right-wing emphasis on religion and opposition to a modern multicultural America today is deeply entwined with preserving an economic power structure that has benefited a small minority. That emphasis is growing stronger in the face of the administration’s effort to restore a level economic playing field."
TFG is blaming #Immigrants for "rampant violent crime." Not only is the rate of violent crime down, but immigrants are notoriously staying out of trouble, hoping they won't be deported. They're much less likely to commit any kind of crimes.