Today we live in an America capable of tremendous acts of humanity and terrible acts of cruelty. Over the last week we've seen Americans helping one and other in sometimes heroic and sometimes simple ways. From dramatic boat rescues to passing out blankets at shelters, these acts of humanity may well give the American horror story that is the hurricane Harvey aftermath a less than tragic ending.
At the same time, amidst these selfless acts of humanity lives a fear. Swayed by the government crackdown on illegal immigrants, some undocumented persons in the hurricane Harvey flood zone chose to leave themselves in harms way versus trust they would not be imprisoned and deported by seeking help. The depth of this fear prompted Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner to say, "If someone comes and they require help and then for some reason [someone] tries to deport them, I will represent them myself."
It's unimaginable that inside the United States borders there exists an atmosphere where people refuse to seek help during a natural disaster of epic scale out of fear of the state. Even the idea sounds like the storyline from a Robert Ludlum book written 40 years ago and set behind the Iron Curtain. Yet, this story is non-fiction and is the present day result of President Trump's divisive policy on immigration.
As the flood waters in Houston recede, Trump's ugly politics around race and immigration has begun to seep back onto the national stage. Trump has bookended the storm with acts of cruelty metaphorically as damaging to America as Harvey was physically. Hours before the storm hit, Trump issued a presidential pardon to former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a man he called a patriot. The list of atrocities for which Arpaio is responsible would likely make him a war criminal anywhere outside the United States. Hardly a patriot.
Now, post Harvey, Trump is likely to end the Obama era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program that shields children of undocumented immigrants from deportation. Ending the so called "Dreamers" program has serious economic consequences that could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs. On a human scale, the damage doesn't have a price tag. Many Dreamers came here as small children. The United States is the only country they've ever known. Now that country wants to take away their livelihood and deport them to completely foreign land.
The cruelty embodied in Trump immigration policies is near unimaginable. Ending DACA solves nothing. The move is punitive and is about as effective as the ridiculous idea of a border wall in addressing illegal immigration. It's little more than a nod to Trump's base of very fine people that seem to support a misguided, unattainable, and undesirable quest to bleach America white.
It is a true American horror story.
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