A sampling of today’s headlines on immigration, race, and related stories.
October 31, 2018
“It’s Ridiculous”:
DJT’s assault on the Constitution continues. Trump confirmed his plans to sign an executive order that will do away with the birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th amendment. In an alternative-fact-laced interview with Axios’s Jonathan Swan and Jim VandeHei, Trump said "We're 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."
If the President meant that we’re the only country in the world where people born on our soil are automatically considered US citizens, then yes, that’s true in that the US is the only country that can grant US citizenship – it would be odd if, say, the Swedes granted US citizenship to anyone, including babies.
But, in the more likely event that he meant to say we are the only country in the world with birthright citizenship (aka jus soli), then that is an "alternative fact." Trump could have corrected his statement by saying: “We’re the only country in the world… except for Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Santa Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela (plus about 20 or so other countries that offer jus soli with some conditions).”
One can glean from previous statements that he may intend this executive order to be retroactive. This would make the racist foundations of the order clear. Come with me on this brief thought experiment: if my grandmother were not a citizen when my mother was born, then my mother could theoretically lose her citizenship (rendering her stateless) and because my mother was retroactively not a citizen, then I would also lose my citizenship, and so would my daughter. But, oh wait, we’re white, so that won’t happen.
In a separate interview, Trump announced his plans to build tent cities to detain asylum seekers for the entirety of their application process.
And there’s the Central American travel ban.
And "Operation Faithful Patriot":
From the Brownsville Herald: Troops in riot gear training at the Gateway International Bridge.
Quote of the Day:
As Rev. Will Green (the pastor who, along with Rev. Darrell Hamilton, “attacked” Jeff Sessions with a bible verse yesterday) said in an interview explaining his motivation:
“It’s a scary, disorienting time for a lot of people.”
Yea verily.
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