“Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes,” reads an excerpt from the Diary of Anne Frank, dated Jan. 13, 1943. “Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”
Anne Frank was a German-born citizen, to German parents, in her own country of Germany. Until one day, her country decided that her ethnicity didn’t belong.
She died in a concentration camp in 1945.
Now, less than a century later, the political landscape of the U.S. looks little different than that of Nazi Germany in the early twentieth century.
In the last year alone, hundreds of thousands have faced deportation and detainment from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal agency that was founded in 2003 to prevent terrorists’ attacks following the attack of 9/11.
Now, ICE serves as the primary attack of the United States–the country it’s supposed to be protecting.
“We’re going after the worst of the worst first,” reported President Donald Trump.
He sounds poetic considering the dystopian-novel-like news airing on national television.
Quite frankly, paying nearly $5 billion to send hundreds of innocent Venezuelans to CECOT–a torturous, dehumanizing mega-prison in El Salvador–seems to be worse than the worst.
CECOT is known for its persistent violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights–declared by the United Nations in 1948 to prevent the atrocities of Anne Frank’s era from ever happening again.
Yet, much like the 1940’s, families are being ripped apart in our country on the daily.
Is this what Trump meant when he said, “Make America Great Again”?
In November, ICE “mistakenly” pepper-sprayed a 1-year-old child as they fumigated the vehicle and struck her father on the head during a family grocery trip in Illinois. The baby was left struggling for air as her father became hospitalized as a result of the attack.
Just this week, a five-year old boy was not met by his parents at the bus stop following his ordinary day in kindergarten, but by an ICE agent instead. Liam Conejo Ramos was used as a lure, later to be deported with his father. The Ramos family was seeking active asylum and had not been ordered to leave the country.
And just as I finalized the original copy of this draft, ICE flew a detained 2-year-old girl and her father to Texas, despite court orders to release them.
None of these cases have been warranted, nor have the ICE agents actually had warrants.
This seems to be a rising trend.
Without the slightest criminal offense, there is no reason these people–legally immigrated and naturally born–should not be here.
These children, these families, and these people are not the enemy.
These are not the people for whom ICE was formed.
Nor was 37-year-old Rennee Nicole Good, who was murdered by an ICE agent during a peaceful protest on Jan. 8.
And most recently, after the murder of Alex Pretti in Minnesota, administration officials are saying he should not have brought a legal holstered gun that he didn’t use to a protest. This is the same administration that celebrated Kyle Rittenhouse, who was brandishing an assault rifle at a protest.
The Nazi Regime restricted the freedom of assembly, too.
No one is safe–no man, no woman, no child, no American.
Yet, the White House makes a Tik Tok about it, and we repost and laugh.
Apathy, hostility, and racism rule our nation, yet most would still dare to call it the greatest in the world, as we hide between the screens of our phones, televisions, and laptops in hate and ignorance.
We are living in an era of unprecedented history.
Not only has history repeated itself; it’s gotten worse.
The First Amendment guarantees the protection of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition.
And any news streaming service can regrettably inform us that religion is about the only right you actually have.
Yet, the Bible reads in Leviticus 19:33: “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, you do not mistreat them.”
An estimated 80% of Trump’s supporters are Christian. I wonder what they think of this.
Jesus was not partisan, nor was he racist.
But racism continues to plague our one nation under God.
Our nation was founded upon the idea of equality and rights. How do we bring back liberty and justice for all? Assuming it every truly existed.
In James Clear’s novel, Atomic Habits, he writes about Roger Fisher–a Harvard Law graduate with 34 years of experience in negotiation and conflict management.
Fisher founded the Harvard Negotiations Project, an initiative that worked with leaders around the world to bring resolutions, end hostage crisis, and create diplomatic compromises.
At the time, in 1981, nuclear war was an impending threat. Fisher was tasked with preventing it.
“My suggestion is quite simple,” said Fisher. “Put that (nuclear) code number in a little capsule and then implant that capsule right next to the heart of a volunteer. The volunteer would carry with him a big, heavy butcher knife as he accompanied the President. If ever the president wanted to fire nuclear weapons, the only way he could do so would be for him to first, with his own hands, to kill one human being. He has to look at someone and realize what death is–what an innocent death is. Blood on the White House carpet. It is reality brought home.”
Could Fisher’s theory deactivate the bombshell known as mass deportation?
Would deportation advocates still sing the praises of ICE if it were them getting pepper sprayed?
Would Trump still sign executive orders in support if it were the White House being invaded?
Would Republicans still accuse alienation if they were the ones on the wrong side of the pepper spray?
Human rights and the basic concept of citizenship is not subjective.
It’s time to stop watching history repeat itself. It is up to us to start writing the next chapter.
