The Naked Truth/Jamala Rogers
U.S. Immigration Has a Human Face
The revenge of trump and his policies to make America white again has moved to another level. The hit list of sanctuary cities was released by the MAGA minions and included Madison and Milwaukee. Carrying out the immigration policies have already gone awry, and many cases are being contested in courts. If I were a betting woman, I’d bet that a showdown is looming, and one city will be made the humiliated example.
We’ve continually heard that this country is composed of immigrants, many who are contributing citizens regardless of their official status. This is mainly true, but a few bad characters get projected as the poster children for the purpose of stirring up anti-immigrant sentiments. The negativity is intentionally directed and magnified towards non-white immigrants.
s ICE raids swoop down on people, workplaces and communities are discovering that the people they know — and even love — are being captured in the dragnet.
These aha moments happened even during the first trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. Tennessee is unquestionably trump territory; he won the state in 2016, 2020 and 2024. When federal immigration agents pounced on the Southeastern Provision plant and rounded up nearly 100 Latino workers in 2018, the people in Morristown were caught off-guard.
The workers were part of families who were part of the community. The kids went to school together. Families worshiped together. They chatted with one another in the grocery store. Most of the mainly white townspeople responded in a neighborly way to the deportation of Carol. Some expressed shame that they had not seen the arbitrary repression coming, especially since their president was loud and vocal about his immigration plans.
Fast forward to 2025 when ICE arrested Ming Li “Carol” Hui with plans to deport her to Hong Kong. It seemed that everyone in Kennett, Missouri knew Carol who served up waffles and coffee at a local restaurant for the last twenty years. The response of Kennett residents was similar to those in Morristown.
Many rallied in Carol’s defense. A towns person admitted that “practically everyone here” had voted for trump, “but no one voted to deport moms.” Carol left behind two children and a husband; the latter’s immigration status may soon be scrutinized.
Deporting moms is exactly at the controversy of trump’s perverted immigration policy. A convicted felon himself, trump has convinced the nation that he’s only going after the most dangerous immigrants or those without legal documentation. Both have been exposed as false.
The oligarch went so far as to invoke the once-obscure Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to ensure a wider sweep and to criminalize U.S. citizens. Remember the group shipped off to the infamous prison in El Salvador? They were portrayed as vicious gang members who had illegally crossed the border. Thanks to the digging of doggedly reporters, we now know that group did not contain the worst of the worst. In fact, some of them were actual citizens or in the U.S. with proper documentation. All have been denied due process, a serious violation of our Constitution. The judicial branch, constitutional experts and other concerned parties are doing their best to educate the public on the issue and to slow down the authoritarian slide.
While lamenting about buyer’s remorse, trump supporters must take active responsibility for their candidate’s lawless and reckless actions. They come as no surprise. Most of trump’s despicable proposals were published in Project 2025, the MAGA playbook for undermining U.S. democracy.