NYT: Donald Trump's Plan to Purge the Nation

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/opinion/donald-trumps-plan-to-purge-the-nation.html?_r=0

Donald Trump’s Plan to Purge the Nation

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
NOV. 18, 2016


snip//



It took the Obama administration eight years to deport 2.5 million immigrants. The threat of Mr. Trump chasing that number right off the bat is the reason immigrant communities are so terrified. But the damage won’t be immediate: He can’t just load two million people onto buses and planes and ship them out. He’ll first have to stuff them into the bottleneck of the immigration courts, where there are too few judges and lawyers for a swollen caseload, and fill detention cells to bursting. Mr. Trump may be unaware of due process, or in denial about it, but it exists.

All the while he would be snatching workers from their jobs, workers who keep the economy humming. Then there is the policing problem — indiscriminate roundups in immigrant communities cause crime victims to fear and avoid the police, and crime to fester.

We’ve been down this ugly path before. Arizona followed it for years under Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, a Trump ally who broke the law, abused civil rights and neglected other law-enforcement duties. It took years of struggle by human rights advocates, in the streets and the courts, but voters finally ousted Sheriff Arpaio in this month’s election.

How can the country resist if Mr. Trump tries to nationalize the Arizona model with mass deportation?

Much of the response will have to be local. The list of cities where leaders and police officials have vowed not to participate in a Trump dragnet is long and growing. Immigration is a federal responsibility, they say, and they will not waste policing resources, money or time on a destructive plan that won’t work. “That is not our job, nor will I make it our job,” said the Los Angeles police chief, Charlie Beck. Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York struck the right note: “We are not going to sacrifice a half-million people who live amongst us, who are part of our communities.”

That’s the kind of determination that public officials will need to summon. If Mr. Trump begins a senseless purge, all segments of society — religious congregations, factories, farms, colleges and universities, private individuals — will need to speak out and defend the vulnerable. Day laborers — the likeliest victims of harassment and vigilantism — will need to be protected.

Mr. Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have threatened to cut off federal funding to immigrant-friendly “sanctuary cities” like San Francisco, Chicago and New York. It’s unclear what budgetary pain they can cause. But we can only hope that these places stand firm at a time when cherished American ideals are under siege.

[safeinOhio]

1. That's how we

We treat the least among us and make a buck.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. His for profit detention center owning buddies are driving this issue.

Just as his promised infrastructure plan is all about privatization and profit.

[KT2000]

3. Our 50 Border Patrol

will be back on the beat. They have been limited (and sleeping in their cars on duty)after patty Murray made them stop their abusive tactics but I guess they will be pulling over lines of traffic and cruising my neighborhood again. They are headquartered in a town of 17,000 and have a state of the art jail. For not having papers, an American citizen was taken to the Seattle ICE jail. Whoopie! More of this shit to come.