I worked out in the garden and listened to the “Big, Ugly, Bill” vote today and wanted to vomit. I want to only talk about one part of the bill today, the immigration funding. The CATO Institute predicts that at least 168 billion dollars will be allocated for deportations and incarceration to facilitate the removal of all “illegal immigrants.” The administration, Kristi Noem, and others want to argue that if you cross the border seeking asylum, and you are without papers, then you are illegal and will be arrested and deported. Over the past few months, some 57,000 people are incarcerated in these camps awaiting deportation, while many others have simply left. To facilitate cooperation, the administration and Trump lied to the American people stating that deportation centers like CECOT would only be used on the “worst of the worst,” like killers and rapists. This is completely false. Most of the men withering away in CECOT have no criminal records at all in any country.
Today Trump appeared on television with Florida governor DeSantis and proudly bragged about the new tent city designed to incarcerate human beings in sickening conditions, in an area of the Everglades that borders sacred Native American lands. We promised our citizens after WWII that we would never build camps to house innocent people ever again. Trump, and his entire family, never contributed to our country’s power or freedom in any kind of way. None of his family has any military service record. If people believe that Trump won’t use these camps on regular citizens, then they are not listening to his words. He talked today about expanding the use of these facilities to include American citizens that violate law. Our Constitution guarantees against cruel and unusual punishments. Sending anyone to a camp like this is not short of cruel and unusual. This is a smear on our country, a horrific crime against our Constitution. They will use this surplus money to persecute regular citizens, and they will persecute people with authentic immigration status.
Trump and his ugly cabal of witches and goons make me sick. I lose productivity and creative energy, and I struggle to focus. I know that we all exist in a country that no longer will keep us safe or value our opinions. We will never be safe if we fail in this moment. We must end this atrocity and begin a new republic that will close the gaps that facilitated this fascism and takeover of our country. We must send our messages clearly to the other side and show evidence of these cruelties. We all have a duty to get out and discuss and report. Our Supreme Court perpetuates this atrocity and is complicit. The six conservative judges are anything but patriots. They contributed to this mess and must be expelled from their work. We must find a way even if we are tired and can’t believe what we see and hear. I know this is difficult, but anyone can end up in Trump’s camp, including you. Talk to anyone that will listen. Be blunt. We don’t have time for niceties and across the aisle greetings. We must forcefully point out the atrocities of this administration.
