ICE Now Forcing Some Immigrants To Wear Yellow Bracelets

Technophobe · May 28, 2018

See, this is the problem with hyperbole. People have spent so long comparing politicians they dislike/laws they disagree with to Hitler/Nazi Germany that when a situation arises where there really are similarities, everybody dismisses it.

On that note, place your bets now on whether the current President manages to start a war before the 2020 elections. Bonus points if it's over a suspiciously well-timed terrorist attack.

cbenoi1 · May 29, 2018

Technophobe said:
On that note, place your bets now on whether the current President manages to start a war before the 2020 elections.

His presidency won't last that long. That's my bet.

-cb

Hoplite · May 29, 2018

From Snopes:

On 24 May, the Washington Press web site reported that President Donald Trump had “just begun forcing detained immigrants to wear yellow insignias,” a policy which some readers likened to Nazi Germany’s practice of forcing Jews to wear yellow Star of David badges:

The referenced passage from the Daily Star article said that “Jacinto wore a yellow bracelet on her left wrist, which defense lawyers said identifies parents who are arrested with their children and prosecuted in Operation Streamline, a fast-track program for illegal border crossers.” It’s unclear from that description whether the referenced yellow “bracelet” identified the arrested woman as a detainee or specifically a detainee with children, or whether it was something separate from the identifying wristbands that have long been used under Operation Streamline. (We reached out to the Star‘s reporters for clarification but had not heard back by press time.)

Certainly the use of bracelets and/or wristbands is not part of a new policy just enacted by the Trump administration, nor something that otherwise has “just begun.” Immigration authorities have for years used wristbands to identify immigrants scheduled for summary criminal prosecution for illegal border-crossing under a federal initiative known as Operation Streamline, which was created under the administration of George W. Bush in 2005 and continued during the Obama and Trump administrations.

regdog · May 30, 2018

GEO Group illegally donated $225,000 to Trump's presidential campaign. They are now the leading private prison housing illegal immigrants.

Link

In the missing children thread I linked to how GEO Group has a prison bus for babies.

DancingMaenid · May 30, 2018

Hoplite said:
From Snopes:

I think it's important to know the facts. At the same time, I don't necessarily believe that whether or not Trump started all of these practices is the only concern, or that the facts make the situation benign.

The fact is, the US has had some serious problems with its detention practices, legal system, and immigration policies for...well, forever. There are just different trends, different issues. What's alarming about Trump and his administration, to me, is less that he's a Hitler coming in an instituting things like this and more that he actively enables harmful practices to continue and undoes any previous efforts at reform and improvement. He's creating an environment where a hidden cancer can grow and spread.

I do think that people sometimes react too quickly with readings of events that are not wholly informed, and that this can be a problem. And I agree that in this case, there doesn't appear to be evidence that the armbands are being used to identify a class of people in the same way that Jews were identified leading up to the Holocaust. But I think people are alarmed by the similarities because they see larger similarities between how ICE is treating immigrants and how people have been treated leading up to genocide in the past.

RedRajah · Jun 8, 2018

[h=1]Iowa student killed after being deported to Mexico[/h]

MaeZe · Jun 8, 2018

RedRajah said:
[h=1]Iowa student killed after being deported to Mexico[/h]

That was so sad. The kid grew up here. No reason for it.

regdog · Jun 11, 2018

Once before, people were told they were going for showers and they were never seen again. Now it's children being taken away for baths. yes, the children aren't being killed, but neither are they being returned to their parents.

Aleman-Bendiks, the public defender, said several of her clients have told her their children were taken from them by Border Patrol agents who said they were going to give them a bath. As the hours passed, it dawned on the mothers the kids were not coming back.

“It’s incredible,” she said. “I just can’t believe what’s happening here.”

Link

Kaiser-Kun · Jun 11, 2018

There are just too many of these anecdotes for it to be a coincidence. ICE seems to be deliberately modeling itself after the Gestapo.

Alpha Echo · Jun 11, 2018

http://thehill.com/latino/371253-co...ation-have-no-right-to-court-appointed-lawyer

I don't know if this has been pointed out yet, but I just heard about it. How can children be denied representation? How is representation not a right, especially for children? I thought that was one of those things that make our country "great" - the right to representation no matter who you are or what you've done.

Unless you're an immigrant child facing deportation.

Tazlima · Jun 11, 2018

Alpha Echo said:
http://thehill.com/latino/371253-co...ation-have-no-right-to-court-appointed-lawyer

I don't know if this has been pointed out yet, but I just heard about it. How can children be denied representation? How is representation not a right, especially for children? I thought that was one of those things that make our country "great" - the right to representation no matter who you are or what you've done.

Unless you're an immigrant child facing deportation.

John Oliver had a really good segment on this issue a few months ago. It covers other topics as well, but it goes into the "small children representing themselves in immigration court" element in some depth (many of them MUCH younger than 13 - IIRC, as young as two or three years old). It's equal parts adorable and horrifying.

regdog · Jun 14, 2018

regdog said:
Over the gates of Auschwitz
Arbeit Macht Frei

"Work Sets You Free"

Propaganda banners

inside one of the detention facilities.

Link 1 Video

Link 2 Twitter Thread

Kaiser-Kun · Jun 14, 2018

regdog said:
Propaganda banners

inside one of the detention facilities.

Sometimes losing a battle you find a new way to win the war? The fuck does that mean?

Kjbartolotta · Jun 14, 2018

regdog said:
Propaganda banners

inside one of the detention facilities.

Link 1 Video

Link 2 Twitter Thread

Yeah, that mural is something else. Like a middle-school art project from MAGAland. Ugh, I didn't want to look at that thread this morning, beyond being disturbing in ways I can't even process, it's all so very trashy. I mean, an abandoned Walmart!? I think we're seeing that 'banality of evil' thing at work.

Twick · Jun 14, 2018

I nearly threw up seeing that propaganda banner. Trump's smirking face proclaiming this is all HIS doing! I agree, this is "work makes free" level of evil.

regdog · Jun 14, 2018

Kaiser-Kun said:
Sometimes losing a battle you find a new way to win the war? The fuck does that mean?

Off hand guess-We couldn't stop you from entering the US, but now you're our prisoner. We win.

Kaiser-Kun · Jun 14, 2018

This is going to go nuts if the proposal for tent cities goes through. Imagine private citizens being allowed to have their own ghetto full of immigrants for profit.

Brightdreamer · Jun 14, 2018

Kaiser-Kun said:
Sometimes losing a battle you find a new way to win the war? The fuck does that mean?

My interpretation of what they mean? "Go home and fix your own country, you filthy unwelcome furriner kids. This here's the land of winners, not losers!"

Kjbartolotta · Jun 14, 2018

Using a war metaphor as an encouragement to children is a little tasteless. But not as bad as, yanno, every friggin' other thing they're doing to those kids.

Tazlima · Jun 14, 2018

The most depressing part is the comments on the twitter feed. Lots of "What's to complain about? It's better than the cardboard shacks they lived in back home."

Apart from the disgustingly ignorant assumption that cardboard is the construction material of choice for every country south of the US (because there's no other possible reason they'd be trying to leave, right?), these are CHILDREN we're talking about. They need their parents, because they're CHILDREN. They need proper loving care, because they're CHILDREN.

I can understand the urge to see adult criminals suffer in prison, even if I don't agree with it. It's not always easy to feel compassion for thieves and rapists and murderers, and some people percieve border-crossing as a form of theft (I guess?). But what kind of monster looks as a roomful of innocent little kids and thinks, "I'd never want to see MY child in that situation... but eh, it's good enough for them. Not like they're actual people with thoughts and feelings and stuff. Not like maybe they'd want to see their mom and dad. I'm sure they never sob themselves to sleep when the fear and loneliness are overwhelming. I'm sure they're perfectly content to be held prisoner without reason or recourse, and without knowning when or if they'll be set free or reunited with their families."

Introversion · Jun 14, 2018

Tazlima said:
But what kind of monster looks as a roomful of innocent little kids and thinks, "I'd never want to see MY child in that situation... but eh, it's good enough for them. Not like they're actual people with thoughts and feelings and stuff.

The same kind of monsters who think the poor deserve to be poor, and who’d rather not pay a dime of taxes to try to make them less poor.

I despair for this country. I suppose middle-class wealth and white privilege allowed me to not despair sooner.

I’m starting to think it may be unsafe to stay in the US. I see no good end to all this. 45 may be the worst, most obvious current symptom of what ails us, but he’s not the underlying cause — racism, xenophobia, religious fundamentalism, hate, poverty are boiling the pot, and I don‘t see what will dial back the heat?

MaeZe · Jun 15, 2018

Colbert had a moving statement about taking these kids from their parents last night.

Colbert Blasts 'Cruelty' of Taking Immigrant Kids From Parents at Border: 'We Are a Feckless Coun...try'

It starts 55 seconds in if you want to miss the intro joke. For father's day call your reps and tell them to change this policy.

regdog · Jun 15, 2018

MaeZe said:
Colbert had a moving statement about taking these kids from their parents last night.

Colbert Blasts 'Cruelty' of Taking Immigrant Kids From Parents at Border: 'We Are a Feckless Coun...try'

It starts 55 seconds in if you want to miss the intro joke. For father's day call your reps and tell them to change this policy.

I watched that, Colbert was brilliant.

MaeZe · Jun 16, 2018

Republican pundits making the talking points rounds on CNN and MSNBC are well trained in gaslighting.

It's the Democrats fault. Dodge any attempt to answer how is that.

When pushed on the fact the GOP controls the legislation, blame Congress, going on to mention Obama and Bill Clinton, and not mention GW or any other GOP POTUSes.

Claim this is the law, dodge any attempt to discuss Sessions' claim it is a deterrent.

When reminded Sessions said, "it was a deterrent", shift immediately to the parents broke the law.

Dodge any discussion of the parents asking for refuge/amnesty as they flee from gangs and violent spouses.

Do you suppose they watch Kellyanne Conway training videos with these answers? Practice in front of the mirror? Practice-drill each other?

They have these campaign slogan answers down as good as any robocall. Brainwashing at its finest.

I wish just one of those reporters listening to Trump blame the Democrats would say, "no one believes that."

regdog · Jun 17, 2018

It was Stephen Miller's doing.

Link

Also of note. No one has seen any of the girls who have been taken from their parents. Where are they?

ICE Now Forcing Some Immigrants To Wear Yellow Bracelets

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