Immigration and the new American terrorism

When the Trump Administration announced plans to arrest and deport all undocumented people, it seemed implausible. Where would the personnel and resources come from to round up, transport, house and feed over ten million men, women and children who are distributed all across the country? How would the enormous expense of such an operation be reconciled with the need to find trillions of dollars in savings to give tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations? The optics would be a public relations disaster.

Looks like the Trump Administration is scaling back. Trump has announced that undocumented farm and hospitality workers would be overlooked for now. And the Administration has opted for drama over numbers. A couple hundred Venezuelans were deported in chains to an El Salvadorian prison camp. Several documented immigrant scholars were abducted on American streets or in American airports.

The goal here appears to be to replace the missing muscle and resources with fear, to get undocumented immigrants to quietly self-deport.

“When Nicole Micheroni got an email from the Department of Homeland Security Friday morning, she was not surprised. Micheroni, a Newton-based immigration lawyer, was used to dealing with federal authorities.

“But when she opened the email, it appeared to be directed to her personally.

“It is time for you to leave the United States,” the email said.

“Micheroni, who was born in Massachusetts, was confused. The message, titled, “Notification of Termination of Parole,” included no client name or case number.

“It took me a couple of minutes to realize it was sent to me, instead of someone I represent,” Micheroni said.

“The message was not intended for her, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. But it was also not a scam. Rather, it was a product of the Trump administration’s efforts to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants allowed into the country under Biden-era initiatives that granted them temporary permission to live and work in the United States.

“DHS is terminating your parole,” the email said. “Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you.”

Chilling. How many innocent people who are not immigration attorneys will be collateral damage in this mindless dragnet? Of course, the mindlessness, like the mindless terrorism of the Stalin purges, is part of the logic.

“Megan Kludt, a Massachusetts immigration attorney, described the letters as a way to pressure people to leave the country without going through the courts.

“If you want them to leave and you can’t deport them, the only other option is to try to scare them away,” Kludt said.”

The fact that this capricious governmental behavior also inspires fear and loathing in US citizens is a feature, not a bug. Citizens who fear their government will be uncomplaining and docile in the face of tyranny.

It was never just about arresting and deporting immigrant criminal gangs. It’s about adapting America to the loss of civil liberties through terrorism.

‘Do not attempt to remain in the United States’: DHS mistakenly tells Boston lawyer to self-deport