CALIFORNIA
FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2025 OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“TRUMP
ON ‘REMIGRATION:’ HEED THE RHETORIC”
Even
now, six months into President Trump’s second term, there’s a tendency to
disregard President Trump’s sometimes fiery rhetoric as mere big talk.
Americans ought to know better by now. Iranians certainly do, after Trump sent
bunker bombs into their most secure nuclear facility.
Similarly,
when he ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents into Southern
California and told them to “do all in their power to…deliver the single
largest mass deportation program in history,” he wasn’t kidding. His order led
to weeks of protests in affected areas, demonstrations that made no discernible
dent in the president’s plans.
This
suggests that when Trump employs white supremacist memes in speeches and social
media posts, he also means it.
He
did that just after the “No Kings” movement produced the largest one-day set of
anti-government demonstrations in U.S. history.
In
a little-noticed rant on his Truth Social service the next morning, Trump
announced that “Our government will continue to be focused on the REMIGRATION
of Aliens to the places from where they came, and preventing the admission of
ANYONE who undermines the domestic tranquility of the United States.”
Never
mind that one would have to be a mind reader to tell in advance which
prospective immigrants threaten domestic tranquility.
It
was Trump’s use of the term “remigration” that should have raised eyebrows, but
drew little notice. Historically, the word has meant the voluntary return of
migrants to their countries of origin. But, as reported by the British
newspaper The Guardian, in modern usage, especially among white
supremacists in America and Europe, it’s a euphemism for indiscriminating mass
deportation and ethnic cleansing. The term is often used to target non-white
immigrants, regardless of their origin.
In
countries from Albania to Serbia and Tajikistan, that word also has been used
in efforts to create all-white enclaves, with some such efforts backed by
governments.
So
it was no surprise when ICE agents without a warrant entered the Montebello
auto body shop of Brian Gavidia, twisting his arm and demanding he tell them in
which hospital he was born, in order to prove his citizenship. Incidents like
this, first reported in local newspapers, have been common in the Southern
California sweeps.
In
the end, Gavidia used his Real ID drivers license to prove citizenship, after
being unable to recall the name of the hospital.
The
incident was not unusual. Gavidia told a reporter, “Latinos in general are
getting attacked. We are all getting attacked.”
Documented
or not, immigrants all over California now experience terror over the
possibility of being picked up and deported with no due process, as has been
reported in hundreds of cases so far. Construction workers stayed home in
droves, roofing and drywall jobs halted, nannies refused to take their young
charges to parks and some normally busy neighborhoods became sudden ghost
towns.
The
racial profiling in the ICE raids has been beyond doubt, striking fear in
millions of the brown-skinned and netting some U.S. citizens. There’s also no
doubt about agents attempting to hide their identity. In an era when almost all
local and state police carry body cameras to ensure their behavior is correct,
not only do ICE agents carry no cameras, they often wear ski masks to hide
their identity. If their actions are correct, why do that?
It's
in keeping with Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem’s remark to a news
conference that ICE raids on everything from convenience stores to family homes
will continue indefinitely. Said Noem, “We are staying here to liberate the
city from the socialist and burdensome government that this governor and this
mayor have placed on this country and this city.”
Just
two days after Noem made that admission of the purely political nature of the
ICE presence in California, Trump ordered raids to intensify in Chicago, New
York and other Democratic-run cities.
Republican
states need not worry much – yet – even though Texas called up more than 5,000
national guard troops to ready for responses to possible upcoming raids there.
For
the other cities and states Trump vocally targeted, none of which voted for him
last year, the message is clear: Heed what Trump says. He means every message,
even if he backs off or softens some.
-30-
Email
Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough,
The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch
It," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias
columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
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