Alligator Alcatraz: A Concentration of Evil

 

Alligator Alcatraz is a concentration camp. To pretend anything otherwise is a willful reflection of callousness and uncaring. To feign ignorance is a high level of ostrich-like head-in-the-sandism, as it defies all reason and logic.

An article by an expert in concentration camps, Andrea Pitzer, their development and history - her words, from an article entitled Don't Call it "Alligator Alcatraz" Call it a Concentration Camp - 

This facility's purpose fits the classic model: mass civilian detention without real trials targeting vulnerable groups for political gain based on ethnicity, race, religion or political affiliation rather than for crimes committed. And its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country.

The overcrowding in inhumane cages, without privacy, without any respect for people, stacking an estimated nine bunk beds and eighteen people per cage.

Air conditioning? Maybe. Different sources say different things. Running water and bathroom facilities seem limited at best. 

Alligator Alcatraz has already been subject to flooding.

The Miccosukee Tribe, which lives near the facility, is very concerned about its environmental impact, as are others. I know -they make it sound like it's completely isolated - I guess it only counts unless it's conservative white families living nearby.

Much is made of it being surrounded by alligators, pythons, and other predators. Maybe. The worst part of that is having to listen to MAGAs gleeful at the prospects of people at the camps trying to escape and being eaten by gators. To further enhance their cruelty and inhumanity, they are snapping up Alligator Alcatraz merchandise! They want to display and wear their cruelty for all to see. How has this country fallen so low? At least Germans, for all their monstrosity, didn't wear t-shirts celebrating the ovens at Auschwitz.

But the alligators are not the biggest threat. The heat, swarms of mosquitoes and other insects, and the potential for exposure to storms and flooding all make this a perilous environment for housing detainees.

And remember, the detainees, brought in without due process, will often NOT be the hardened criminals you think that they are. ICE, so far, has shown an infinite capacity to sweep up the wrong people, and then has a hard time letting them go. Trump has even talked about revoking citizenship and sending those he simply does not like to places like this.

And the cost is horrendous. 450 million dollars a year for a tent city? And where did the money come from? It's money reallocated from FEMA. You know, the agency that's supposed to help with things like the flooding in Texas? Instead of saving lives, the money is going to be used to destroy lives!

But have no fear. The ICE budget, in the most recent Big Ugly Bill, is receiving dramatic increases, over $100 billion, a larger budget than most other countries' military budgets, and bigger than the budget for the US Marine Corps. It includes $45 billion for the construction of new facilities. Alligator Alcatraz times 90.

"Oh, Tom!" reich wing friends tell me. "It's only a temporary holding! They'll only be there a few days until they're deported!" 1) Deported where? Who's agreed to take them? El Salvador? Some other country that is not their country of origin? So they'll just be transferred to other inhumane facilities? 2) I don't believe for a second that many of them will be there just for a few days. That's not usually the experience with concentration camps. 3) I don't care how long it is. I don't care what the crime or civil offense is. This is NOT the way to treat people. You're trying to turn them into animals that, in your mind, it is ok to treat inhumanely.

Is this Alligator Auschwitz? No, not yet. But the German concentration camps did not start out that way either. The gas ovens were not there at first. But listen carefully about how the MAGAs talk about this - the glee over the potential alligator meals, the delight in the cruelty of it all. The fairest thing to say is we're on that path, but we're not there yet.

Which is why we have to speak out. Many of the German people knew what was coming, but out of fear, acquiescence, or complacency, did not speak out.

We cannot be quiet. Many of us are taught by our faith to care about all people, and that everyone deserves to be treated as we would treat ourselves.

I don't know how much of this nightmare we can stop.

But let's not be silent about it.

Huddled Masses: Saturday Political Soap Box 214

It's hard.

The political thoughts that most often swirl in my head center on -

Trumpeteers!

What the hell are you thinking?

But I can't always write about that, as much as it occupies my mind, as much sleep I lose over the fact that I have friends who just don't seem to WAKE UP!

Sigh.

So let me attempt to take a look at an issue that might be solved, or at least improved, by a different approach.  So let's take a closer look at whatever problems we imagine to have centered around immigration.

There must be some solution that is a middle ground between wild west open borders versus the concentration camp horrors we are witnessing.

There is not one solution.  This should allow for a comprehensive bill/compromise that would contain elements that both parties can agree on (or agree to live with).  But it probably won't happen with a President who thrives on stoking the fears and racism of his base.

But what if we could do what was needed?

The following is not a researched or scholarly position.  Sorry -  my blog is designed for discussion and ideas, not for conclusive research.  Ain't no one gonna pay me to put in that kind of time.  I do think, however, that they are worth discussing and considering.

In no particular order, any comprehensive immigration position should contain the following elements -

1) $15 Minimum Wage

You can't even begin to discuss things while so many Americans are living on the edge of poverty.  If you work a full-time job, you should be able to support yourself.  Period.

There should not be lower wages set for some jobs (waitressing, crop picking, etc.).  There should be no guest worker programs.  You work, you get paid a living wage. Period.

So, if Americans still refuse certain jobs, even with an adequate, competitive wage, then those jobs need to go to someone who will take them.  If that means immigrants, documented or otherwise, then so be it.

2) Prosecution of Businesses

Stop going after the employee.  Start going after the employer.  And go after them for wage theft, not employee status.  If they are paying less than minimum wage, or paying under the table, or some other clever subterfuge - PROSECUTE THEIR POSTERIOR!

Instead of breaking up families and going after the law-abiding (other than documentation status), maybe ICE should be focused on enforcing labor standards.

3) Border Security

The focus on border security should be on illegal contraband and criminal activity.  It should not be on harassing and demonizing asylum seekers.

Focusing on a useless wall is stupid, and a mammoth waste of money and resources.  We need focus via ports, through the coast guard and border patrol increased inspection and law enforcement.  Drugs and human trafficking should be targeted.

4) Speed up the Asylum Process

Build the facilities you need.  Take care out of private hands.  Be open to constant oversight and inspection.  Don't tell me we can't afford toothpaste, toilet paper, and basic supplies - don't go there.

Most importantly, hire the lawyers and judges you need to accelerate the process so that the whole thing runs more quickly and smoothly.

And don't break up families.  I can't believe I even have to say this.

5) Start a Marshall Plan for Central America

The primary reason we did not have World War III was the incredible decision by the United States to refortify the economic stability of its World War II enemies, Germany and Japan.  It was named for Secretary of State George Marshall and was essential in building the world we know now, where, up until Trump, those two nations became two of our closest allies.

We need that level of support to restabilize Central America and take control from the tyrant and gangsters that now run roughshod over that region.  Unfortunately, the Trump administration has withdrawn rather than engage.  

This will have to be done to secure democracy and openness, and not just selling parts of the countries off to multinational corporations.  I know.  A lot to ask from America, but it has to happen if we ever want to stem the tide of Central American asylum seekers.

6) Stop pretending climate change doesn't exist and start doing something about it.

We've passed the time to do something about this problem.  We are now, tragically, in a mitigation stage, and not a complete reversal stage. Sad, but true.

What has this got to do with immigration?  Everything.

As the climate continues to destabilize, vast swaths of this planet will become unlivable.  If they want to survive, they will have to move.  And climate refugees will dwarf whatever problem we think we are faced with now.

--------------------

I realize, that for Trumpeteers, the major problem is not jobs (hard to argue that in the face of historically low unemployment rates).  It's culture.  It's the fear that their culture, whatever they think it is ('MURICA!!!), will be lost.

Sorry, dudes.  Can't stop that.  Culture changes and shifts all the time.  Many of them are nostalgic for a time that never really existed.

I can't help with that.  I don't know how to address that level of bigotry and hate.

So, are there solutions to the "immigration crisis"?

Yes.  Yes, there are.

Will we adopt them in the Age of Trump & Satan's Handmaiden Fox News?

No.  No, we won't.

Sorry.  It's a dark time.  Hard to stay optimistic.

We Really Do Care: Saturday Political Soap Box 186

Why did Melania Trump wear a jacket that said:  "I Really Don't Care, Do U?"  across its back?

I really don't know.  Do I care?  I'm not sure.  Did she mean the children?  Her husband?  The media?  The weather? 

But I think we do care.

We care about the children.  The separation of families has struck a chord with many of us, and we don't see a plan to reunite those families.  The American people's reaction is that we do care.  This was a step too far for even immigration hardliners.

We care about her husband.  At least we care about the damage he is doing to our country and the democracy it is founded upon.  We care that he has chosen to identify more with world dictators than he has with democratic leaders.  We care that his rhetoric is tinged with racist paranoia and that he is trying to get us to react in fear, rather than in reason or compassion.

We care about the media.  We care that we have a 24 hours news station that is basically state-run television supporting Trump, no matter how authoritarian he is, no matter what godawful thing he does or says, no matter how much they have to contort or change previous positions.  We care about how much of the media is controlled by only a handful of corporations.  We care that we're losing net neutrality, dramatically increasing the odds that the Internet becomes expensive and under the control of only a few large players.  Please keep reading my blog even if they slow down your access to it.

We care about the weather.  We care that global warming remains unchecked, indeed has even been accelerated by the actions of the Trump administration.  Rules and regulations concerning pollution have been reversed, and fossil fuels have been favored over alternative energy.  We care that extreme weather, exacerbated by climate change, has become the norm rather than the exception.  The negative effects of global warming will create millions of climate refugees as parts of the planet become uninhabitable.   The current level of refugees will look like a trickle compared to what's coming. There will be mass migration on a level the world has never seen before.

Not everyone who reads this blog cares about every single one of these concerns.  A few may not care about any of them.  But there are many of us who are concerned, about these issues and many others.  And as long as there is breath in our bodies, we will continue to speak out.

What I really don't care about is commenting too much about the lives of the first family.  I have never commented much on Melania Trump, one way or another.  Those of Trump's children who speak out on public issues, including adviser Ivanka Trump, make it fair game as it relates to whatever issue they've spoken out about.  But the rest is not my concern, and I really don't care what they do or don't do,  Do you?

So, I don't know why she wore that jacket.  It could have been completely unintentional with no ulterior purpose.  I doubt it, but it could have been. 

But I do know this.  We care.  And we will continue to care.  There will always be a reason to care.  There will always be people that need caring about, that need kindness and understanding.  There will always be issues that affect us all, that require our action and caring to make things better for all.

We care, Melania.  And I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt.  I think, deep down. you care too.

Only time will tell.

Nope. Can't explain it.

The Problem is identified

Huzzah!

The President has come in and cleared up a problem of his own creation!  He does have a heart!

Well, not really.

He did very little, other than to jail future families together indefinitely.

He did nothing to help the families already separated.  He has increased the penalties for crossing at the wrong point from civil to criminal.

The zero tolerance policy continues, basically unabated.

He didn't make his policy change because of any sympathy for the children and their parents.  He did it because the optics looked bad for him.  Our television President didn't like how it made him look on television.  Nothing else moved him.  Well, maybe Ivanka, but I'd rather not get into that.

So, Trump is nasty and cruel.  We knew that. No one should be shocked by that.

What it did identify, what it made crystal clear, is identify those who would support him no matter what.  Those who bought into the whole thing, those for whom being tough on immigration justified any measure, any cruelty.

For some of us, it was friends, neighbors, sometimes even relatives, whom we realized were too far gone to help.  People who otherwise seem kind and rational, who had no problem justifying this cruelty.  It helped identify the persuadable and the incalcitrant.  There may be some people who are never coming back.  And the rest of us have to find a way to live with those people.

For those of you who live in more liberal, progressive places, this may not be a big problem.  But for us living in rural areas and small towns, particularly in the South, we have to learn to cope somehow.  We still have to go to work.  Many of us go to church.  We all have to go into environments where we are outnumbered by madness.

There seem to be two objections to immigration, illegal or otherwise.  One is economic - fears of losing jobs that should go to Americans, and to the social welfare cost of sustaining them.  The second is cultural - that the naturally superior white culture will be drowned by people of different colors and faiths.  A Corollary to this is that this is a nation founded on Christianity and that accepting people of other faiths will dilute that.

The first problem I can address.  Some say there are jobs Americans won't take, therefore we need migrants to take them, who will be willing to work for substandard wages and tolerate substandard conditions.  Every single human being has a right to be treated with dignity and paid a living wage.

So, here's what we do.  For every job, no matter how crappy, employers offer a living wage to do the job (right now, that would be somewhere between $13.50 and $15.00 an hour).  If Americans don't take the jobs, then offer the jobs to migrants, but do so AT THE SAME LIVING WAGE.  Pay them what you would an American.  No more under the table and underpaying crap.    BAM!  Immigration problem solved!

The second problem I can't address.  Bigotry often knows no cure.  We can pray that bigots change, but we can't just hold our breath.  Cultures change and move on.  We are not a prehistoric fly preserved in amber glass.

Every immigrant group that has come here has eventually merged into the melting pot of America.  Well, except maybe Southerners, but that's another discussion for another time.  Eventually, blue jeans, rock 'n' roll, and the mini-mall rule us all.  Eventually, English wins.  Maybe with a few new colorful phrases added, but that is one of the strengths of English - it's ability to adapt and absorb.  We have more culinary dishes to choose from.  The combination of diversity and unity makes us the greatest nation on Earth.  When we behave and not give into nativism, we do it better than any other country.

When you consider immigrants. illegal or otherwise, something less than yourself, when you dehumanize them, you turn your back on this nation.  You turn your back on humanity.  You turn your back on God.

But, tragically, these people may not be moved by reason, as they ruled by fear.  There may be nothing we can do, except to make sure there are more of us voting than them.

The Age of Trump. It's exhausting, I know.  It's depressing.  We lose sleep.  We're heartbroken over our family and friends that are still onboard his terrible train.

But I can't stop.  I will continue tilting at the windmill.  You never know.