[Content Note: Nativism; fascism.]
This morning, responding to news of a 4,000-person caravan of migrants fleeing violence in Honduras approaching the Mexico-Guatemala border amid an increase in border crossings on the U.S.-Mexico border, Donald Trump tweeted: "In addition to stopping all payments to these countries, which seem to have almost no control over their population, I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught — and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!"
Just to be clear: When a president threatens to close a border, he is not only suggesting keeping people out; he is also suggesting keeping people in.
In August of 2017, I tweeted: "Be wary of people who advise shutting down the borders to keep people out — because soon enough they'll be explaining why they're keeping us in."
I have long feared that Trump's ultimate "border wall" objective was at least as much about controlling movement of the population within the U.S. as it was about his nativist agenda of keeping people out of the country.
This morning's all-caps threat to deploy the military to "CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!" has certainly not assuaged my fear.
Shakesville is run as a safe space. First-time commenters: Please read Shakesville's Commenting Policy and Feminism 101 Section before commenting. We also do lots of in-thread moderation, so we ask that everyone read the entirety of any thread before commenting, to ensure compliance with any in-thread moderation. Thank you.
blog comments powered by Disqus