It’s happening. The Trump administration is working to strip USA-born Americans of their citizenship. This is happening right now on the southern border in Texas.
We have a birther sitting in the Oval Office and his worldview is infecting the country.
Here’s what’s going on plus some thoughts on what we can do to combat this.
What’s Happening?
The Washington Post broke the news today in this article: U.S. is denying passports to Americans along the border, throwing their citizenship into question
Hispanic Americans are being detained or stopped at the border as they return to America from traveling and are having their passport taken away from them. The government is accusing them, without evidence, of having fraudulent birth certificates.
The first person the story covers is an American who served three years in the Army, then in the Border Patrol, and now as a prison guard. He has served his country yet has been targeted.
The government is also targeting those Hispanic Americans, again these are natural-born citizens, who live near the Texas-Mexico border and confiscating their passports and accusing them of not having been born in this country, even though their birth certificate states that they were.
For an administration so hostile to so many different kind of people and one that has gone out of its way to institute stricter Voter ID rules, going after Hispanic Americans in a Democratic section of Texas is highly suspect.
Who’s doing this: The State Department are the ones denying or not renewing passports. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are the ones detaining people at the border. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are coming to people’s home and confiscating passports. If you click on their links, it’ll take you directly to their Contact Us page — do leave them a choice message.
What Should We Do About This?
✦ First and foremost, we must communicate with our representatives in Congress and tell them 1) how we feel about this and 2) ask them to publicly rebuke the administration’s actions if they haven’t done so already. If they have, thank them.
You can find the contact information for your Senators and Representative at Contacting Congress. In case their D.C. numbers are busy, call their local offices.
✦ Second, the ACLU has defended citizens who have had their citizenship and birth certificates on the Texas border in the past, and based on past behavior and this tweet, I expect that we’ll see them jump into this situation. I recommend donating to the ACLU to help these efforts.
Whatever you do, be sure to stay loud. If we get quiet and stop airing our issues publicly, things won’t change. Let’s keep the pressure on.
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Categories: Explainers
Reblogged this on Meanderings of a Tellurian Metaphorist.