Whites Only

It’s ironic that after pretending to be open-minded, racially and ethnically sensitive, Donald Trump appears to be going all-in on implementing new policies to take away U.S. citizenship from people born in the United States to undocumented parents. This is an effort that, based on statistics alone, overwhelmingly targets non-whites from Latin America and Asia. Back in December of 2015, in an interview on CNN, Trump stated: “I am the least racist person that you have ever met… I am the least racist person.” Right.

Forget his stance of “rapists and criminals” from Mexico, the anti-Muslim rants and policies, the description of some of the “fine people” who burned torches in Charlottesville or his characterization of the “caravan” from Central America, filled refugees who are escaping murderous violence and desperate poverty, as an “invasion” force requiring a military response. Ignore the fact that Pittsburgh/Pennsylvania politicians (including a few Republicans) refused to accompany him on his trip to “pay respects” to innocent Jews slaughtered in that horrific synagogue shooting… as Jews turned their backs on him as he passed. He now wants to expel a massive population of non-white citizens born in this country. After all, those folks seldom vote Republican and mostly disagree with everything he stands for.

“President Trump, who [had] been campaigning intensely against immigration ahead of [the mid-term] election, said in a television interview that he is ‘in the process’ of preparing an executive order to end the right to citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are here illegally… ‘It’ll happen,’ he said in an interview with Axios scheduled to air on HBO [immediately before the election]. The news site released a portion of the interview Tuesday [10/30]…

“The idea, which Trump and many of his advisors believe could help boost conservative turnout in the final days before the midterm election, has been driven by Stephen Miller, Trump’s most hard-line anti-immigration advisor [White House insiders reported].” Los Angeles Times, October 31^st. Other than words saying he is not a racist, Donald Trump seems to have doubled down on his commitment to white America at the expense of everyone else. Trump’s “I’m not a racist” seems to resonate with a few gullible voters, but mostly it’s a wink-wink to his base that they can count on him to purify the electorate.

The rest of America pretty much sees Trump for what he obviously is. “Now, a poll from the Public Religion Research Institute released Monday [10/29] surveyed 2,509 adults from all 50 states through online surveys and live telephone interviews between September 17 and October 1, found that 54% of participants believed that Trump's decisions and behavior have encouraged white supremacist groups, and 69% of participants said that Trump has ‘damaged the dignity of the presidency.’” Business Insider, October 30^th. Saying it over and over again… Donald… does not make it true.

“The Constitution’s 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868, says that ‘all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside… That language has been widely interpreted to guarantee the right to citizenship for those born on American soil. The president now claims otherwise.

“‘It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don’t,’ Trump said in the interview… ‘You can definitely do it with an act of Congress. But now they’re saying I can do it just with an executive order,’ Trump said, without specifying who ‘they’ referred to.

“Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, accused Trump of trying to ‘sow division and fan the flames of anti-immigrant hatred in the days ahead of the midterms… The president cannot erase the Constitution with an executive order, and the 14th Amendment’s citizenship guarantee is clear,’ Jadwat said… House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) agreed. ‘You cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order,’ he told radio station WVLK in Lexington, Ky.” LA Times.

Does Donald Trump believe that that addition of his two right-wing appointments to the Supreme Court is enough to repeal the Constitution? This exclusionary interpretation of the 14^th Amendment has to date rested with a very small coterie of conspiracy theorists and fringe legal extremists. Klan-leader David Duke might love this stance, but the position is just about as un-American as you can get. Remember that the United States has historically always been a nation of immigrants.

“In reviving the debate on birthright citizenship for children of those who immigrate to the U.S. illegally, President Trump on Tuesday [10/30] claimed the nation is the ‘only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits.’… That’s far from true.

“The U.S. is among more than 30 countries that give automatic citizenship to children born to nearly anybody living within a country’s borders, according to the National Constitution Center, which was established by Congress to educate Americans about the Constitution.

“‘In the early 17th century, the principle of birthright citizenship was established pretty definitively in England and that was exported to a number of British Empire colonies, including America,’ said Bernadette Meyler, a professor at Stanford Law School.

“Today, birthright citizenship, with few exceptions, is the norm in countries whose laws were crafted based on English common law, including Canada, Jamaica and Pakistan. Nearly every country in Central and South America provides birthright citizenship too.” LA Times. Just picture what our Constitution would look like if Donald Trump revised it? It will be interesting to see if our judicial system can withstand this unprecedented attack on our democratic system and our long-standing constitutional commitment to human rights.

I’m Peter Dekom, and it increasingly difficult to convince my friends from all over the world that the United States remains a true representational democracy with liberty and justice for all.