Commemorating its 10th anniversary on its website in 2013, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement noted that it comprises more than 20,000 people with a presence in all 50 states and 48 foreign countries.
Even for a federal agency, that’s a lot of people to have sitting around for the duration of the Obama administration doing nothing. What’s that? There were deportations under President Obama? We’ll confess, we had a totally different impression when reading up on the ACLU’s People Power kickoff Saturday and the launch of its Freedom Cities campaign.
“As Donald Trump is going about his hate agenda, we need to live our love. Whatever he’s doing, let’s have an equal and opposite reaction."
— People Power (@peoplepower) March 11, 2017
Whatever he’s doing, do the opposite — that approach will certain speed things, up as it bypasses any need to discern between good and bad policies.
Freedom Cities are about protecting Americans from @realdonaldtrump’s unconstitutional raids, walls, and bans.https://t.co/CUz0IAKDjk
— People Power (@peoplepower) March 11, 2017
Learn about Freedom Cities, a campaign promoting local policies to ensure communities are welcoming – to everyone https://t.co/C9Cv6flZE7
— ACLU (@ACLU) March 12, 2017
It’s a minor detail that doesn’t get enough attention, but ICE agents shall now be known as henchmen; for example:
[Trump] has outlined, through executive orders issued his first week in office, a blueprint for a mass deportation machine, which will pull families apart and uproot hard-working, law-abiding individuals who have lived here for decades. The impact of this agenda is plastered in our newspapers daily, whether through the detention of a father of five U.S. citizen children who has only worked hard and obeyed the law since his arrival 15 years ago, or a domestic violence victim in Texas, who sought protection through our judicial system, but fell prey to Trump’s henchmen — apparently based on a tip provided by her abuser.
The Freedom Cities campaign will allow us to make American communities welcoming again.
The ACLU isn’t lying about one thing: suddenly, deportations are plastered in our newspapers daily.
Poor Chelsea Clinton, for one, was sickened and horrified reading about the unconscionably terrible arrest of that hard working, law-abiding domestic violence victim, whom the feds said had been removed from the United States six times and had previously been arrested for possession of stolen mail and illegal re-entry into the United States. But then … TRUMP’S HENCHMEN struck.
Did Trump issue new TRUMP’S HENCHMEN uniforms yet? It shouldn’t be difficult, seeing as the administration already has everyone’s sizes; they’re just henchmen now.
Here’s some of what you missed if People Power Saturday passed you by:
"Grab that moral arc of the universe. Force it towards justice. Fight the power." – @berkitron, ACLU first amendment attorney
— ACLU (@ACLU) March 11, 2017
If you're hearing about a raid, go out. Document it. Film it. Bear witness for those who are most vulnerable. #PeoplePower
— ACLU (@ACLU) March 11, 2017
"What happened to give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses? What happened to that American Dream?”https://t.co/CUz0IAKDjk
— People Power (@peoplepower) March 11, 2017
Nothing happened to the poem, which is, by the way, a poem, not a founding document. As far as the American dream, it really hasn’t changed much, despite the attempt at a “fundamental transformation” of the country itself.
Beautiful activists writing postcards to elected officials while hearing #aclu #peoplepower pic.twitter.com/657aHY54U4
— Susan Mizner (@spmizner) March 11, 2017
Messy.
Disruptive.
Loud.
That's what democracy looks like.
Let's go show them. #PeoplePower— ACLU (@ACLU) March 11, 2017
Ever notice how an electoral map dominated by red is the only thing progressives seem to point to without saying, “That’s what democracy looks like”?
The time for any of us to be silent is over. See you in the streets. https://t.co/tobKuBrEG9
— ACLU (@ACLU) March 11, 2017
Can’t wait.
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