Sadly, Trump and other administration officials have the terrible
habit of criminalizing foreigners whenever they can. They seem to forget that
Trump’s mother, grandfather and two of his wives were also immigrants. “They
don’t think we are people,” Astrid Silva, from the Dream Big Vegas
Organization, told me in an interview. Ignoring others in this way is a deeply
effective form of rejection. In Mexico, there is even a verb for it:
“ningunear.”
By doing away with DACA, Trump, magnanimously, punted the Dreamers
issue to a Congress that has become famous for rarely agreeing on anything.
These days there is virtually no chance that Democrats and Republicans will
pass a bill that shields Dreamers much less provides a path to citizenship for
11 million undocumented residents. Congress is a black hole; it sucks in the
best ideas, where they are forever lost.
But Trump doesn’t surprise me anymore. Sometimes he makes us
believe that he will do the right thing — like saying he had a great love for
Dreamers and that they had nothing to worry about — then proves he has deceived
us once again. In fact, Trump’s behavior has become very predictable.
First, he likened Mexican immigrants to criminals and rapists. Then
he pledged to build a wall on the Mexican border and proposed to ban all
Muslims coming into the United States. Later, he compared neo-Nazis with the
people protesting racism in Charlottesville, Virginia; then pardoned former
Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was accused of discriminating against the
Latino community. Hence, Trump’s decision to rescind DACA and leave Dreamers
without driver’s licenses and work permits should not surprise us. The fact
that Trump pardons a man who was violating the rights of others, then punishes
tens of thousands of students, says it all.
We keep thinking that Trump might change. But he won’t.
The Dreamers won’t change either. We know what their strategy is:
Shortly after the DACA announcement, 34 Dreamers and activists were arrested in
New York during a protest in which they stopped the traffic on Fifth Avenue, in
front of Trump Tower. Their rallying cry was “undocumented and unafraid.”
Of course, the Dreamers are indeed fearful of being deported, taken
away from their families and sent back to a country that they don’t know. But
they are out there, fighting. They’ve taught me a lesson: Be unafraid.
We should not forget how the nationwide Dreamer movement started in
2010; four undocumented students from Miami-Dade College, walking from South
Florida all the way to Washington.
I choose to put my faith in the United States proposed by the
Dreamers, a diverse, tolerant nation that is accepting of its immigrants,
rather than Trump’s vision of a country full of hatred, cruelty and prejudice.
In the end, I’m sure that the Dreamers will prevail.
Jorge Ramos, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, is a news
anchor on Univision. Originally from Mexico and now based in Florida, Ramos is
the author of several best-selling books. His latest is “Take a Stand: Lessons
From Rebels.” Email him at [email protected].
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