Look on the bright side. The Statue of Liberty is still there, at the mouth of New York Harbor. Facing southeast, to welcome immigrants arriving aboard ships. Lifting her lamp to light the golden door.
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free ..." is still emblazoned on a plaque at the feet of the Mother of Exiles. "Send these, the homeless tempest-tossed to me."
There is no plan — no public plan anyway — to take her down and sell the copper for scrap. Or jackhammer away Emma Lazarus' famous poem praising "a mighty woman." Or remove the torch and refashion her uplifted right hand to display an extended middle finger.
Not to give anyone ideas. Defacing national monuments is already in the air — talk has resumed of adding Donald Trump's face to Mount Rushmore.
The statue remains, for now. Only the concept behind her is being scuttled, the American welcome mat yanked away, again. The golden door slammed shut.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — ICE — was busy in Chicago and across the country Monday. Hundreds of immigrants were arrested here, thousands nationwide, and while those arrested were portrayed as murderers and rapists, facts were scarce.
I have a feeling that when the facts are known — and we can't assume the truth will ever be known, this being 2025 America — the bulk of deportees will end up having committed parking offenses, and of course, the unforgivable crime of being here in the first place. Which is what this is all about, and why Donald Trump is president — so we can throw out the foreigners along with their crime and disease and strange languages and get back to this country as we imagined it to be in the 1950s.
A certain brand of foreigners, of course. From Mexico and South America, primarily. They haven't rounded up the Norwegians, yet. I contacted the French consulate in Chicago to see if their people here are on edge. Let's just say, they're not. The elimination of diversity efforts in government and anti-discrimination laws give further proof, as if more were needed, of what this is really about.
The effort focused on Chicago. Here is where border czar Tom Homan was striding around, joined by — in that note of surreal horror that all true nightmares require — TV's Dr. Phil, offering the ripping apart of families as entertainment, edging toward the strafed lifeboat full of refugees in George Orwell's "1984." Red meat for red state audiences.
Remember why Chicago is being singled out. What is our crime again? Oh yes, we are a "sanctuary city," welcoming immigrants, who have so overrun the place that Chicago's population has been flat for 30 years. Chicago had more people in 1925 than it has today. We're being punished for seeing a situation clearly — we need residents — and acting upon it. Expect more of that.
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Your Statue of Liberty imagery reminded me of the TV series The Man in the High Castle, based on a Philip K. Dick alternative history novel where Axis powers won WW2. In the TV series the statue is giving the nazi salute. A shocking image, or at least was at the time.
ReplyDeletehttps://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/the-man-in-the-high-castle-nazi-estatua-libertad-1565162618.jpg?resize=980:*
It is sad to think the only recourse to oppose Trump now is in the federal courts, but that is where we must fight.
ReplyDeleteSorry Neil, but I must correct you, the Statue was not the tallest structure in NYC until the Empire State Building was completed in 1931. The World Building was completed in 1890 & was 309 feet tall, four feet taller than the Statue. This site has the tallest buildings in NYC by year, had to use Tiny URL to shorten a really long URL:
ReplyDeletehttps://tinyurl.com/593fvp4d
Right you are, Clark St. I'll fix online, and run a note Monday (no column Friday; I'm taking a day off). Thanks.
DeleteI find the rounding up of anyone for deportation to be disgusting.
ReplyDeleteI do find "The New Colossus" to be one of the greatest poems ever written. Not just for how beautiful it is, but what it is attached to, making the meaning even more powerful.
For many years, I have bristled at the idea of republicans. I've tried to understand their point of view, their beliefs, even their principals.
Nixon was bad, but not being held to task for his actions were the begging of our struggles today. Every republican was let off without having to stand up and prove to the American people (and the world) what they actually stood for. This paved the way for Reagan, his lies, his hate, his obfuscation of the truth, and a world where what the results of your actions are do not matter. Trickle down economics does not work, never has and never will. For some reason, no one has the guts to ask a republican to prove it works and then fact check them live on air about their bogus claims.
But I digress.
Even if you agree with the idea of rounding up non whites. Even if you agree with shutting down the borders. Even if you agree with slavery, minority rule, or what ever bastardized version of "Christianity" the right believes in now, the silence from then entire right side of the elected political spectrum is proof that Republicans are the problem.
I no longer have respect for anyone who supports or claims to be a republican. Not even Adam Kinzinger or Liz Chaney. I thought Mitch McConnell's failure to literally do his job regarding Supreme Court Justices was the point at which the bottom had to be near, but this is disgusting. This is un-American to the core. Even though, it is what we've done for centuries, just look at the Japanese internment camps, our treatment of Native Americans, how the rail was built.
I like to think we get better and advance each generation, but the poison that is any "conservative" or "libertarian" or any one center right is so far gone that I don't believe we should allow them the platforms to speak without being real time fact checked. they are built on lies and deceit. They are nothing but hate and evil. And since Nixon, they have compromised on nothing. their platform is literally, no abortion and no child care. No homelessness and no funding to help house people. I hate republicans.
With each passing day that hate grows as not a single news organization calls out their double standards or lies. for gods sake, they made jimmy carter sell his peanut farm but meme-coins are ok when they funnel cash directly into the pocket of the president? please. We have a problem in this country, and it looks a lot more like 1933 in Germany than anyone wants to admit. I thought it was crazy when you read about the history of World War II, how could it happen here. Now i understand, most people are complicit.
capitalism is a cancer.
Social media is a cancer.
the right is a cancer.
things were very different 140 years ago. the spirit of that poem lives on in the hearts of many. for a lot of people a shift to a sane structured immigration policy with a Path to citizenship for those already here. would fall short of the come one come all notion embodied therein.
ReplyDeletewe dont have and won't get a sane policy from this administration . im not hoping for an open borders policy suggested by some on the left indecent years.
we've been deporting on average some 300,000 people a year for the last 30 years. trump will really have to work hard to Catch president Obamas over 400,000 in 2013.
this is a thing in our country. kicking people out. trump didn't invent it. do you think he'll
manage to expel millions? I dont
Von Ryan's Express is a wonderful movie. I like to think it helps me think about the grander scale of things. The quote that plays on repeat through my head is "Ryan always said if only one person gets out, the mission was considered a success."
DeleteIt goes hand in hand with Stalin's quote of "One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.”
If Trump and the republicans (because this isn't just on trump, its on the entire republican party) manage to expel even one person, their mission was a success. the more that are expelled, the less it will matter. don't give an inch, because before you know January 6th will have never happened.
Donald Trump has always (1) hated black and brown people, (2) wanted to be a Mafia Don, (3) wanted to be the center of attention everywhere he went, (4) to have anything and anyone he wanted, anywhere, any time, (5) to have absolute power over everyone around him and (6) be able to punish anyone who stands in his way. He is proving all of this. As Jonathan Last said on The Bulwark, "Trump sees himself as a wartime President - and he's at war with America."
ReplyDeleteGod help us all.
Americans, like most humans only learn one way, the hard way
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing this article. I shared the Sun-Times version on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, Mr. S, you've homered. Nailed it. Knocked it clean out of the park. That's exactly what this 2025 American purge is all about — the unforgivable crime of being here in the first place. Which was what the Holocaust was all about, Jews were killed simply for the unspeakable crime of being Jews. And nobody dared speak about it. How long before the new Nasties come for those pushy, noisy, liberal Jews, and concentrate them in camps, and try to deport them to...where? Israel? Oh, hell...why don't we just...never mind...
ReplyDeleteAnd that way of thinking is why Donaldo Trumpolini is Il Douche once again. Kick out those brown folks and their nasty habits...especially...horrors!...not speaking American...and make America the white, Christian, law-abiding, God-fearing, church-going paradise it was when I was just a kid.
Ah, yes...those were the days. Those halcyon days of Tail Gunner Joe McCarthy, Little Rock, togetherness, family values, high birth rates, and men in gray flannel suits marching to the train and taking the 8:15 into the city. Sorry, Orangy Boy, the clock only ticks in one direction...and not even the likes of you can turn it back to 1955.The Dodgers have left Brooklyn, and Ebbets Field is a housing project.
The ones from Mexico and South America? Boot 'em all. The Norwegians can stay...they're quiet, hard-working, harmless, and nice (Ask the man who knows...was once married to one). Rolling back diversity efforts and anti-discrimination laws are a tell. Couldn't do it last time, but it can be done now, and it will be done. Make America Germany Again. White, Christian, Aryan, one people, one kingdom under our Sky Daddy, one king. Been there, done that...lasted a dozen years, and did not end well for either the king or his subjects. Gonna happen all over again. Never again? Never forget? Like hell...millions have either forgotten, or never knew, or simply don't give a damn.
And seeing that dog-killing North Dakota bitch, strutting around New York in her leather ICE uniform, with the hair and the cheekbones and the thick red lipstick? Jaw-dropping. And disgusting. Made me think of that bad 70s movie--"Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS." Had to laugh...to keep from crying.
Great article. And great comments. Thanks for the quote, Eve. I agree that Trump is at war with at least half of the USA.
ReplyDeleteI admit to respecting Adam Kinzinger. I think the Illinois Legislature should honor his honesty and courage with an official proclamation, for the record.
Trump singled out Chicago because he fucking HATES it. It is the right wing symbol and talking point for all that is wrong and everything they fear about big city liberalism. It is also home to two of his arch enemies, Barack and Rahm and, he’ll never forget, the city where protesters actually managed to shut down one of his MAGA rallies. The raids are merely a symbolic show of force, meant to Own The Libs and remind everyone who’s in charge now. They won’t really accomplish anything, but goddamn they’ll make the MAGA fans on their bar stools and milk stools feel good. It also serves as a great distraction for the media, while the real shit happens in the middle of the night with his purging of political enemies and government watchdogs.
ReplyDeleteOur "crime" goes beyond being a Sanctuary City. Gregg Abbott tried to target Chicago because of its Sanctuary city status and his gambit didn't work as well as he had hoped. He DID enjoy the chaos of dumping busloads of immigrants out in the cold in the middle of nowhere on a Saturday night, though. I believe Chicago has been targeted for our dislike of Trump and our refusal to vote for him, because Trump tends to be driven more by spite and revenge than policy. Especially when he is being cruel and petty. Sometimes I wonder how the GOP could elevate Trump through their ranks as they did. Trump saw an opportunity in the floundering Republican Party and switched in 2009. Then I remind myself that the GOP does no vetting of its leaders.
ReplyDeleteNeil, not to disparage your brilliant writing, but those who miss out on EGD are missing the remaining pieces of the puzzle that your followers add. I sometimes wonder how many of them are former colleagues, but is doesn't matter. They are (never more apparent than today) an amazingly capable, fluent and invested group of right (or should I say "left"?) thinking people who are not fooled by the Fool we are now forced to call President. Another second ticked off the so-called Doomsday Clock at the UofC. I pray that it will be reset two years from now when America comes to its senses. We now live in a Plutocracy...a term that is even scarier than Oligarchy. Wake up America!!! This may be our last chance to lead the world as a refuge to the "huddled masses."
ReplyDeleteTrue - I always read EGD with my morning coffee; these days often for solace. Then I return in the evening to read comments from followers which are often informative, eloquent and a comfort.
DeleteNot too many former colleagues, to my knowledge. Henry Kisor, the former book editor, sometimes remarks
DeleteI would guess and I many be wrong but the hating of foreigners probably started with Asian exclusionary act. Until then there were not really any restrictions to entering the country. There were not any immigration laws until 1790. The first deportations didn't start until 1790. With the alien and sedition acts the could support some one for any reason. To become a citizen in 1990 you had to live here and not get in any trouble. There was no test. No green cards. A few years later you had to be here for 5 years and let the government know three years prior that you intended to apply for citizenship. It was later raised to 14 years. But it must have been changed at some point. I know my great grandfather came here in 1900 and became a citizen in 1905. One rarely needed a passport to enter the country back then. Here is what you needed to get in the country. The most crucial document was the ship manifest, which included details like name, age, nationality, occupation, and intended destination. Upon arrival, immigrants underwent medical inspections to check for diseases. I am not sure how deep the inspections were. Immigration officials would also question immigrants based on information on the manifest to verify their eligibility to enter the country.
ReplyDeleteYou could reasonably say that the earliest anti-immigrant movement was the Know Nothings of the 1850's, when descendants of Anglo Saxon Protestants opposed the newly arriving Irish Catholics. But the party did not gain much traction in the government beyond some Congress reps. The Scorsese movie Gangs of New York depicts that era and the conflict.
DeleteThe residency requirement for naturalization has fluctuated, but it was set to 5 years most recently in 1922.
I came here with my parents in 1992, joining other family members who came in the late 70's and 80's. The rules for immigration (who was allowed to come in) changed in that time, but the rules for naturalization were mostly the same. Once the 5 years passed, I had to take a test of US history and government and an oath of allegiance, but the test of the English language was dropped by the 1990 Immigration act.
There is a good link here listing the various Naturalization acts and their changes: https://www.thoughtco.com/the-history-of-naturalization-requirements-1951956