There is a very well-documented record of what the rise of fascism looks like and it appears that the current administration is using it as a playbook. For example, the first people to be thrown in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany were “criminals,” a label frequently attached to victims of ICE abductions locally and nationally, regardless of their criminal record.
Undocumented immigrants “are here illegally, therefore they are criminals,” say supporters of these goonish raids. This smug retort conveniently ignores the fact that an incredible amount of the American West was settled illegally, whether through broken treaties, illegal land grabs, or otherwise unlawful claims.
The pioneers, prospectors and sooners of American history could more accurately be referred to as “illegal immigrants.” But while college sports teams and state license plates commemorate the white folks who made their way here without following protocol, their brown counterparts of today are instead rounded up by masked cowards and whisked away to modern day concentration camps like CECOT or to third-party countries with whom they have no connection.
Fear is a staple of rising fascism, building unsubstantiated hatred for a marginalized group is a tried and true method of stoking that fear. Threatening incarceration for those who don’t self-deport, much like the Nazis did to the German Jewish population following the Kristallnacht pogrom of 1938, is another surefire way to promote fear. The irony of calling somebody “illegal” while on stolen land would be comically stupid if it weren’t so tragic.
Jeff Dunn
Durango
