America’s Funnyman
When he takes a break from dropping his ridiculously awesome sense of humor that mere mortals would call racism, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is continuing his reign of terror against undocumented people. Here’s some stories from scared people in Rhode Island.
The Haitian immigrant sits in a reporter’s car, parked on a side street, his eyes scanning for police or federal agents. Dreading potential arrest and deportation, “Joseph” says this is only the third time he’s ventured from his basement hideaway since before President Donald Trump took office.
A slender 35-year-old with wide cheekbones and close-cropped hair, Joseph remains secluded with his girlfriend and their infant in a two-room concrete basement. They’ve taped blackout cloth over the one tiny window. They speak in low tones. They watch television with the volume off and captions on. They hope the baby’s cries don’t attract attention. His aunt, who owns the house, attends to their needs.
Through an interpreter, Joseph says that “because of the problem with Donald Trump, they are putting everybody in the same boat,” lumping all undocumented immigrants with those who have committed crimes. He hopes that Trump “may change his mind, and allow [undocumented] people to stay if they have no criminal record.”
If he doesn’t, Joseph says, “Only God knows” what will happen to his family.
Joseph is one of several undocumented immigrants The Journal interviewed who are living under self-imposed home confinement because of the Trump administration’s executive orders that appear to put many of the country’s estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants at risk. The Journal has granted them anonymity because of their fears. Joseph is being interviewed in the car so the reporter will not know where he lives.
Just another hilarious joke by that comedic genius from Alabama!
Much of the response on the left to Trump has been heartening, with protests ranging from the Women’s March to the JFK protest to yesterday’s Science March. But I have to say that the lack of attention paid to the approximately 11 million people in this country who are being terrorized by Sessions and his fascist strikeforce that is ICE is upsetting. These are the single biggest targets of Trump and yet this doesn’t concern liberals and the left as much as other, less immediate issues. As I believe we can be mad about many things at once, I don’t think we have to sacrifice the anger at the administration anti-science policies in order to also be, say, setting up an underground railroad to get people to Canada or a network where local people can create flash protests whenever the fascists arrest an undocumented person. We can do a lot more on these issues than we are doing.