We Resist: Day 893

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, July 01, 2019
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One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.

So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.

Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.

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Earlier today by me: The Entire Trump Family Is a Global Embarrassment and Primarily Speaking.

Here are some more things in the news today...

Juliet Eilperin, Josh Dawsey, and Dan Lamothe at the Washington Post: Trump Asks for Military Tanks on the Mall as Part of Grandiose July Fourth Event. "The ongoing negotiations over whether to use massive military hardware, such as Abrams tanks or Bradley Fighting Vehicles, as a prop for Trump's 'Salute to America' is just one of many unfinished details when it comes to the celebration planned for Thursday, according to several people briefed on the plan, who requested anonymity to speak frankly." This is authoritarian theater. And it's being reported as though it's all just perfectly normal. It isn't.


[Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] Parmida Mahalli, Nick Paton Walsh, and Tamara Qiblawi at CNN: Iran Exceeds Uranium Caps Set by Nuclear Deal. "Iran's stockpiles of enriched low-grade uranium have exceeded the 300-kilogram limit set in a landmark 2015 nuclear deal, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Monday according to the state-run IRNA news outlet. The move is thought to be Tehran's first major breach of the accord since [Donald Trump withdrew the United States] from the agreement last year."


[CN: White supremacy] Luke Barnes at ThinkProgress: Germany Is Facing a Terrifying Rise in Far-Right Threats. "Together, these incidents highlight the dangerous surge in far-right extremism which Germany is currently facing. That point is further backed up by a report published by the German domestic security agency Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV) on Friday: The report stated that, while the number of right-wing extremists in the country had remained relatively stable from 2017 to 2018, the number of acts of extreme violence had risen sharply from 28 in 2017 to 48 in 2018. The report added that nearly 13,000 individuals classified as right-wing extremists had been deemed 'violence-orientated.'"


There is a lot in the news about the protests in Hong Kong — as well there should be! — and far less attention is being given to protests around the U.S. against the Trump Regime's immigration horrors, the lack of more coverage of which is very disturbing (and of course by design). There are some stories popping up on my radar, though.

[CN: Nativism; video may autoplay at link] Daniel Moritz-Rabson at Newsweek: Over 30 Jewish Protesters Arrested After Blocking Access to Privately Operated ICE Detention Facility. "Over 30 protesters were arrested on Sunday outside a privately managed ICE detention center in New Jersey, which has been used to hold undocumented immigrants. Those arrested were among dozens of Jews who staged an action at the Elizabeth Detention Center to protest the treatment and detention of undocumented immigrants. Invoking the Holocaust, demonstrators described to the conditions in which immigrants are being held as concentration camps and spoke of the immigrant children who have died while in ICE care. The protesters traveled from cities including Seattle and Boston to attend the protest, which was organized by a decentralized group of Jewish activists, along with members of the immigrant rights group Movimiento Cosecha."

Oren Oppenheim at the Philadelphia Inquirer: Immigrant Allies Call for Justice, Assail Trump Administration Outside Philadelphia ICE Offices. "Donald Trump's threatened mass deportations of undocumented migrants drew more than 100 protesters Monday morning to the sidewalks outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Center City, where they vowed they would 'fight back,' as one organizer declared, against a 'violent, racist government's attacks' on foreign-born residents. 'We're here today to send a message to the administration that we are not going to stay quiet.... We are ready to rise up,' said Blanca Pacheco, co-director of the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, a coalition of faith-based groups that led the demonstration."

Marcheta Fornoff at MPR News: Marchers Protesting Immigration, Border Policies Fill Minneapolis Streets. "A crowd estimated at more than 1,000 people gathered in south Minneapolis on Sunday to protest the Trump administration's immigration and border policies. From the Kmart parking lot at the corner of Nicollet and Lake, they marched — waving banners and cardboard signs, and spanning two city blocks at a time — to the First Universalist Church of Minneapolis. Once there, speakers shared their stories and spoke against the separation of families, threats of deportation, and other federal actions that have made headlines for months."

Oyin Adedoyin at the Baltimore Sun: Hundreds Rally Outside Baltimore's ICE Office in Defense of Immigrants. "Hundreds of Baltimore residents showed to show support for immigrant communities and advocacy groups at the steps of the ICE field office in Hopkins Plaza, calling for the agency to leave the city. ...Baltimore residents from small children to senior citizens stood side by side on a humid summer day as immigrant advocacy representatives shouted words of resistance from a bullhorn. They held up handmade signs with phrases like 'Have compassion' and 'Abolish ICE.'"

Maria Perez at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Hundreds of Members of Religious Groups Protest Trump Immigration Policies in Milwaukee. "Hundreds of members of faith-based organizations marched Monday outside the Milwaukee office of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to protest against the immigration policies of [Donald] Trump's administration. Holding signs and banners that read 'Classrooms, not cages,' 'Abolish ICE,' or 'Keep families together,' protesters walked and chanted on the sidewalks outside the building. More than 30 religious leaders and faith-based organizations' members blocked for nearly half an hour the garage entrances to the building where, organizers said, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement brings arrested immigrants for processing."

Diane Smith and Jasmine Robinson at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: They're Still Standing: Why Critics Protesting Trump's Child Detentions Won't Give Up. "[The protesters call] themselves Patriots for the Children. They said they were fighting federal policy that separated immigrant youngsters from fathers, mothers, aunts and grandmothers. They promised to keep protesting until immigrant children were no longer separated from their parents or detained at the southern border. Now, more than a year after they first planted their feet on University Drive, about a dozen protesters continue to take a public stand. 'The issue hasn't gone away and I don't think we should go away until it does,' said Walter Horton, a semi-retired real estate agent who protests every Friday."

Alan Pyke at ThinkProgress: Hundreds Protest Local D.C. Government's Failure to Protect Their Neighbors from ICE. "A crowd of 300 marched through city streets in Washington, D.C., on Saturday in protest of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids that were recently reported in their neighborhood. The rally attracted an all-ages crowd, with toddlers playing in the Columbia Heights fountain as adults listened to brief speeches from clergy and protest organizers in sweltering heat. ...'ICE out of D.C., fuera ICE,' the crowd chanted as it marched. 'No ban, no wall; sanctuary for all.'"

This is just a small selection of local news stories about the protests going on all across the country against Trump's vile nativist agenda. Look for them in your local news. Share them. Raise awareness of this resistance. And the next time you see someone snorting about how people in the U.S. aren't "out in the streets," tell them that people are out in the streets. The more urgent question is why our national press doesn't cover it.

[CN: Nativism; abuse. Covers rest of section.]


Jay Root and Riane Rolden at the Texas Tribune: No Toothbrushes or Showers, Kids Coughing All Night: Migrants Describe Conditions Inside Border Facilities. "'They don't have the humanitarian conditions for people to be there,' said Gary, a 33-year-old migrant from Siguatepeque, Honduras, who would only give his first name. 'There were more than 200 of us in a single cage — seated on the floor, standing, however we could fit.' He said the stench inside overflowing toilets was so bad it made him gag and caused children to vomit. ...U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol, said it could not comment or research any specific allegations unless the Tribune provided the agency with names, alien registration numbers, and times and dates of the alleged treatment."


Julia Ainsley and Jacob Soboroff at NBC News: Agents Feared Riots, Armed Themselves Because of Dire Conditions at Migrant Facility, DHS Report Says.
The government's own internal watchdog warned as far back as May that conditions at an El Paso, Texas, border station were so bad that border agents were arming themselves against possible riots, countering Friday's assertion by a top Trump administration official that reports of poor conditions for migrants were "unsubstantiated."

In an internal report prepared by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General and obtained by NBC News, inspectors noted during a May 7 tour of a border station in the El Paso sector that only four showers were available for 756 immigrants, more than half of the immigrants were being held outside, and immigrants inside were being kept in cells maxed out at more than five times their capacity.

...A cell meant for a maximum of 35 held 155 adult males with only one toilet and sink. The cell was so crowded the men could not lie down to sleep. Temperatures in the cells reached over 80 degrees, the report said.

"With limited access to showers and clean clothing, detainees were wearing soiled clothing for days or weeks," the report said.

Medical concerns were also rising during early May, the report found. Agents reported taking sick migrants to the hospital five times a day, treating 75 immigrants for lice in a single day, and trying to quarantine outbreaks of flu, chickenpox, and scabies.
So instead of letting people go, border agents decided to "remained armed in holding areas" rather than put their weapons in lockboxes. Despicable.

[CN: Nativism; racism; misogyny] And it's hard not to believe that border agents aren't hoping for a chance to start shooting when you read filth like this. A.C. Thompson at ProPublica: Inside the Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Where Agents Joke About Migrant Deaths and Post Sexist Memes.
Members of a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents joked about the deaths of migrants, discussed throwing burritos at Latino members of Congress visiting a detention facility in Texas on Monday, and posted a vulgar illustration depicting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez engaged in oral sex with a detained migrant, according to screenshots of their postings.

In one exchange, group members responded with indifference and wisecracks to the post of a news story about a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant who died in May while in custody at a Border Patrol station in Weslaco, Texas. One member posted a GIF of Elmo with the quote, "Oh well." Another responded with an image and the words "If he dies, he dies.”"

...Several of the postings reviewed by ProPublica refer to the planned visit by members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Veronica Escobar, to a troubled Border Patrol facility outside of El Paso. Agents at the compound in Clint, Texas, have been accused of holding children in neglectful, inhumane conditions.

Members of the Border Patrol Facebook group were not enthused about the tour, noting that Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from Queens, had compared Border Patrol facilities to Nazi concentration camps. Escobar is a freshman Democrat representing El Paso.

One member encouraged Border Patrol agents to hurl a "burrito at these bitches." Another, apparently a patrol supervisor, wrote, "Fuck the hoes." "There should be no photo ops for these scum buckets," posted a third member.

Perhaps the most disturbing posts target Ocasio-Cortez. One includes a photo illustration of her engaged in oral sex at an immigrant detention center. Text accompanying the image reads, "Lucky Illegal Immigrant Glory Hole Special Starring AOC."

Another is a photo illustration of a smiling [Donald] Trump forcing Ocasio-Cortez's head toward his crotch. The agent who posted the image commented: "That's right bitches. The masses have spoken and today democracy won."
The story notes that the secret Facebook group has "roughly 9,500 members from across the country." There are around 20,000 border patrol agents who serve in the broader U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, which means nearly half of them are participating in this secret group.

Clearly, not all of them share the obscene sentiments, since someone took those screenshots and made sure they got to the media. But it is very troubling to think that such a large proportion of border agents, including many who aren't members of the secret Facebook group, are in agreement with what's being said in that space.

We have a president who is actively pursuing nativist malice against migrants and refugees, and he's got a national force of violent xenophobes ready to start shooting given half a chance.

We're in real trouble.

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
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