Over the past few years a number of editorials have correctly pointed out that Trump and the Republican administration's desire for deportation, restricting the immigration of certain ethnic and religious groups, and building a physical wall (modeled off of Israel's apartheid wall) to prevent migration (as well as the Alt-Right's larger desire of "demographic stabilization" to counteract the non-existent "White Genocide") is nothing short of ethnic cleansing. We are now entering a new stage in the ethnic cleansing process.
Before Trump had even taken office, True Leftists predicted that this reign of terror would not be limited to merely deporting undocumented immigrants and going after DREAMers, but stop at nothing less than stripping citizenship from citizens from the "wrong" ethnic backgrounds or religions.
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This has already begun.
In June 2018, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) formed a new "task force" to launch investigations of naturalized citizens who it suspected of lying on their citizenship applications. Such investigations began in the final year of the Bush administration and continued as "Operation Janus" during the Obama administration. Even so, it was not until January 2018 that the first individual lost their citizenship under revived efforts to carry out Operation Janus.
According to USCIS director Francis Cissna, he expects that Operation Janus will only uncover "potentially a few thousand cases" where denaturalization can be pursued. While this may not seem like much, the administration has been continuously broadening the criteria for whom they seek to denaturalize (beyond the Operation Janus task force).
"Under the Obama administration, according to officials who were there, the targets of denaturalization investigations were usually human rights and national security cases — cases in which someone hadn’t just lied to the government on a naturalization application but had covered up involvement in war crimes or donations the US would consider “material support for terrorism.”
But toward the end of the Obama administration, and going into the Trump administration, the government started filing denaturalization suits against people who’d committed other crimes that hadn’t been included on their naturalization applications.
It started with people who had been convicted of sex crimes against children — unsympathetic cases to most Americans, and people who, if they’d included the crimes on their citizenship applications, might well have gotten rejected for not having the “moral character” to become US citizens. In 2015, the government filed to denaturalize a man who’d failed to disclose a conviction for aggregated sexual assault of a child when he applied for citizenship in 1996. (The administration won the case in 2017.
In November 2017, the government went a step further: It sued to denaturalize five men who had each been convicted of sexual crimes against children after they had been naturalized — because those convictions had included criminal activity stretching back before their naturalizations. And now it’s using the same logic to go after Norma Borgono (as well as the owner of the company where Borgono worked, who’s accused of masterminding the scheme)."
Source: https://www.vox.com/2018/7/18/17561538/denaturalization-citizenship-task-force-janus
As the law currently stands, naturalized citizenship can only be revoked if it was obtained fraudulently. Of course, laws and even Constitutional Amendments never stopped nearly a century of Jim Crow discrimination (nor its successor, the "War on Drugs" and corresponding police brutality), nor Franklin Roosevelt's administration from sending US citizens of Japanese ancestry to concentration camps, nor a thousand other injustices. Neither have they stopped ICE from not only intimidating "non-white" citizens and legal permanent residents, but actually detaining them.
How long will it be until the "Denaturalization Task Force" moves beyond targeting the "few thousand" cases of naturalization fraud currently on their radar? Afterall, Trump lives in a land where facts change on a whim and where 3-5 million people voted for his opponent illegally. Although Trump disbanded his commission on voter fraud this year after they found nothing, he maintains that there were millions of fraudulent votes, and I imagine this will be a convenient talking point when the "Denaturalization Task Force" expands their criteria on who may be denaturalized and deported.
At present, there are over 21 million naturalized US citizens. Moreover, naturalization is not just denied for identity fraud or committing crimes. Under US naturalization law, individuals who are communists, anarchists, or belong to other ideologies of this sort are not qualified for citizenship.
The wording of naturalization law itself is also vague enough to allow further ideological restrictions:
"IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT Sec. 316. [8 U.S.C. 1427]
(a) No person, except as otherwise provided in this title, shall be naturalized, unless such applicant, ...(3) during all the periods referred to in this subsection has been and still is a person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States."
Far-right groups already claim that it is impossible for immigrants to every truly hold loyalty to their new nation, and especially that "ethnic minorities" always retain loyalty to their "homeland" (even when such individuals have never even lived in their so-called "homeland"). In right-wing rhetoric, it is already standard that only "whites" are capable of upholding good lawful order. How long will it be until this rhetoric moves from a carefully-veiled "dog whistle" back into a new heyday of open racism and reintroduction of Jim Crow?
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This is not going to stop with denaturalization. For years rightists have been attacking the 14th Amendment, alleging that "anchor babies" born to "immigrant invaders" are undeserving of citizenship. A sentiment reiterated by the president himself. Rightist commentators have also been busy attacking the Immigration Act of 1965, which ended the ethno-centric quota system of the Immigration Act of 1924 (which only allowed for negligible numbers of "non-white" immigrants). The Immigration Act of 1965 also placed minimal limits on the number of immediate relatives of immigrants who were also allowed to migrate. This is the infamous "chain migration" that Republicans wish to end. For the record, it is likely that the parents of Trump's current wife utilized "chain migration" to gain citizenship in the US. Also, Melania came to the US as an illegal immigrant--she obtained a tourist visa but violated it by working.
And from there, who knows where rightists will go next. Why not go after immigrants who were given amnesty by Reagan, and their descendants? Why not strip Puerto Ricans of citizenship, and relegate them to the colonial status of US Nationals only (the same status as residents of American Samoa)? Why not send Muslims and Latinos to concentration camps in the name of "national security" like FDR did to US citizens of Japanese ancestry during WWII, or to concentration camps reservations like the government did to Native Americans, or to actual prisons like the "War on Drugs" has been doing to "blacks" and Latinos who are not easily-deportable?
Hell, why not begin unabashed militarized ethnic cleansing like Trump's ally Israel (which also refuses to help refugees and has a giant wall along its border) has been doing to the Palestinians for the past 70 years, or like the recently-democratic Myanmar has been doing to the Rohingya? Trump has already deployed the National Guard along the southern border to help enforce his immigration policies, and the US military has always been instrumental in the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans. What's to stop them from reviving this practice in the 21st century?
Trump, in typical semi-coherent fashion, made it seem as if he was open to creating a database of all American Muslims (and certainly he didn't ruthlessly condemn the idea, which one would imagine he would do if he did oppose it). Anyone familiar with Islamophobes knows that they don't actually care whether or not an individual is particularly religious, they only care that their skin color or ethnic background is stereotypically associated with the so-called "third world". Techies quickly pointed out that non-government websites and algorithms already had all the data necessary to profile individuals. With the increasingly Orwellian nature our cyber world (not to mention the ease with which hackers have been stealing information), it would be trivial for the government to obtain the data from Facebook, DNA testing websites, and other social media networks.
Hobbyist DNA testing websites have already been used to solve decades-old cold cases in the US, and Canada is now using them to deport people. How long will it be until the Trump administration follows suit? This isn't a dystopian cyberpunk fantasy--it's occurring right now.
And beyond the administration, there is no shortage of non-government-employed stooges to take things further than the government can. From the cattleherders and buffalo exterminators who were attributed by US officials as being the real reason the Natives were successfully 'dealt with'; to the KKK and other terrorist organizations who were instrumental in establishing and enforcing ethno-tribalist hegemony; to bigots who are currently murdering, beating, committing arson, and harassing all who do not conform with the version of the US "MAGA" seeks to establish.
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Edit:
While this article was being drafted, Trump's tyranny moved into the next stage. Individuals born in America (and hence possessing citizenship from birth) are now having their citizenship called into question on the basis of their ethnic background. Thousands of Americans of Latino heritage living near the southern border have had their passports revoked or passport applications denied, on the accusation that their birth certificates were fake.
Just like with the "Denaturalization Task Force", the government is using the excuse that the citizenship documents were fraudulently obtained. Court cases have deemed that a small number of birth certificates issued by midwives in the Rio Grande valley were indeed fraudulently issued. However, this information has been unjustly used to stereotype thousands of individuals as guilty until proven innocent.
It is worth noting that the practice of broadly denying citizens of certain ethnic backgrounds in the Rio Grande valley passports started during the George Bush administration and continued under Obama. After a 2009 lawsuit by the ACLU, these passport denials nearly ceased, and it is no coincidence that the current Republican administration is once again ramping up the practice in coordination with other efforts to oppress Americans of certain ethnic backgrounds.
Again, how long will it be until the government begins expanding these passport denials to other regions? (The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency already has special jurisdiction within 100 miles of all US borders--an insane buffer zone which encompasses 2/3s of the US populace. The CBP is technically separate from ICE, but the lines are blurred in practice). Until it begins removing citizenship entirely from those accused of having "fraudulent" birth certificates?
Looking at the "Birtherism" debate which followed Obama throughout every moment of his term in office, it is abundantly clear that right wingers in the US view "non-whites" as unqualified to possess US citizenship. (Of course, the reality is that the rightists who wish to re-imposed the Jim Crow order are the ones who are un-American and therefore unqualified to be citizens. The left should not be afraid to admit this.)
Also, for the record, the US and Norway are literally two of the largest "shitholes" on Earth.
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These attitudes possessed by Trump and other rightists are fundamentally anti-American.
"He [King George III] has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands." -Declaration of Independence, grievance #7.
"I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable Asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong" -George Washington, Letter to Reverend Francis Adrian Vanderkemp (May 28, 1788).
"I, George Washington, President of the United States, do recommend to all religious societies and denominations, and to all persons whomsoever within the United States to set apart and observe Thursday, the 19th day of February next, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, and on that day to meet together and render their sincere and hearty thanks to the Great Ruler of Nations for the manifold and signal mercies which distinguish our lot as a nation...to imprint on our hearts a deep and solemn sense of our obligations to Him for them; to teach us rightly to estimate their immense value; to preserve us from the arrogance of prosperity, and from hazarding the advantages we enjoy by delusive pursuits;...to render this country more and more a safe and propitious asylum for the unfortunate of other countries; to extend among us true and useful knowledge; to diffuse and establish habits of sobriety, order, morality, and piety, and finally, to impart all the blessings we possess, or ask for ourselves, to the whole family of mankind." -George Washington, Proclamation of January 1, 1795.
"O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her — Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind." -Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776).
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Things will continue to get worse unless Americans are willing to defend each other against this growing plague of tyranny, and take steps to ensure it can never happen again. Make no mistake, once Trump's term in office is over, things will not just "go back to normal". Since 2001, the world has been experiencing a swiftly-rising tide of bigoted far-right views. The European far-right had been making slow but steady headway in the years before Trump was elected, and now the US Alt-Right has the nuclear arsenal of the world's most influential nation at their fingertips. It will be a long time before this mess is completely cleaned up. We got to this point by underestimating how serious a threat reactionary tribalism posed, and things will continue to accelerate so long as we are complacent.
A brief look at US history shows it is full of unrestricted ethnic cleansing against Native Americans; slavery, lynchings, and abhorrent treatment of "blacks"; disgusting anti-immigrant sentiments towards individuals from China to Ireland to Mexico; a terrible track record on sex and gender issues; religious bigotry against everyone from Catholics to Muslims; and countless other acts and sentiments which trample not only on our Constitution and laws, but the very spirit of the American Dream. The days of segregation and racist lynchings took place during the young adulthood of Trump and his generation (the generation which is disproportionately represented in Congress and votes at greater frequency than younger age cohorts). The US will go back to that point if Trump and MAGA supporters have their way. But this is not a mere generational issue. It is not enough to wait until the oldies "die off" as liberals frequently assure themselves. The Alt-Right in the US and the far-right in Europe are overwhelmingly young. Bigotry isn't going out of style any time soon.
Passively waiting for the mythical and non-existent "march of progress" to come won't end this nightmare. Only resistance can resurrect the American Dream. During the Revolutionary War era, Americans resisted British tyranny by forming militias to defend their communities and organized local and state-scale provisional governments of their own--refusing to recognize the authority of the oppressors. During the Civil War era, Americans formed the Underground Railroad to protect illegal undocumented "fugitive slaves"--despite the fact that such activity was not just illegal, but unconstitutional under the Fugitive Slave Clause. During this same time period, Americans such as John Brown utilized the 2nd Amendment to protect other Americans who were born to the "wrong" ethnicity and therefore targeted by White Supremacists; and John Brown and others fought a miniature Civil War in Kansas in order to defeat those who wished to spread slavery and bigotry (as, even amongst the anti-slavery faction in Kansas, many wished to ban "blacks" from entering the state altogether). And, of course, Abraham Lincoln was willing to wage a Civil War to stop Dixie tyranny from poisoning the American nation, and caused the downfall of slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation in a unilateral move without input from Congress. During the Civil Rights era, countless counterculture and anti-Vietnam War groups fought back against tyrannical laws and establishments, and individuals such as Malcolm X and groups such as the Black Panthers again utilized the 2nd Amendment to protect their communities from tyrannical supporters of Western Civilization and Jim Crow.
Cardboard signs are not protecting American citizens and aspiring American citizens from being ethnically cleansed, nor can they bring back those whose lives have already been upended. For the record, this blog does not endorse illegal activity. It is legal, however, to defend oneself and one's community from thugs who commit illegal acts. Indeed, it is a duty as a citizen to do so.
From the beginning, communities throughout the country have heroically designated themselves Sanctuary Cities, Counties, and even States.
After that was not enough to protect American citizens and undocumented Americans, Occupy ICE was formed. Not long after, the Occupy Wall Street Twitter account posted a tongue-in-cheek meme suggesting a more ruthless form of resistance. Despite the fact that it was a hyperbolically-absurd meme, this did not stop right wing commentators from acting as if Occupy ICE had indeed declared war on ICE, in the same manner that individuals and organizations like Malcolm X, John Brown, the Black Panthers, the Underground Railroad, and the Sons of Liberty had declared war on tyrants in our past.
There is still hope that a non-Republican-controlled Congress can take control after the 2018 elections and defuse the situation. But if the ethnic cleansing is not stopped, it will continue to escalate, and both the left wing and right wing will become more emboldened to use force. This is obvious not just from US history, but is the case in all apartheid and ethno-favoritist states (e.g. Israel, apartheid South Africa, Jim Crow USA, Ireland under British colonial rule) and states brazenly engaging in full-fledged ethnic cleansing (e.g. Israel, present-day Myanmar, 1990s Serbia, USA vs Native Americans).
May sanity and justice prevail.
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