OPINION - The ICE raids that will begin on Sunday (the raids have been postponed until further notice) are not about following the law. This is a targeted effort by the federal government to target and disrupt Latino communities.
Donald Trump and other politicians have repeatedly blamed Mexico or Central American countries for the number of illegals that are in the United States. They have targeted these nations, but make no mention, or say little about illegal immigrants from Canada, China or those from Europe. Their rhetoric has always prioritized the targeting of the Latino community, while they convince their constituents that this is about the law. Make no mistake, if this was about the law they would also spread the rhetoric about illegal Canadians, illegal Englishmen, and Irishmen. They also demand, primarily for Spanish speaking immigrants to speak English in the United States, while totally ignoring Mandarin speakers of Chinese-descent or origin, or those of whom who speak French, Italian, Creole, etc.
In their calls for the raids, it has been reported that they will be targeting 10 major cities, which include Miami, Florida; New York City, New York; San Francisco and Los Angeles, California; Houston, Texas, among others. All of these cities have one thing in common, a very large Latino population, and in some cases, the Latino demographics within these cities exceed over 25% of the local population. For example, in Miami, Florida the Latino population exceeds 70%. Some states and major cities have denied supporting ICE agents in their raids like the entire state of California, and Miami, Florida as examples. These raids are a major problem especially for refugees from Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Cuba.
There is no question that there is still a major race issue within the United States, but this goes beyond racism, this is ethnicism. Latinos are being targeted because of their Latin names, the way they look and how they speak. ICE agents under the Trump Administration have already targeted US Citizens, or immigrants that are legally in this country, what is worse they have even
deported Latino Veteran immigrants, and have even attempted to
deport US Citizens who are also
veterans. This isn't about following the law, this is a coercive exodus of the Latino population; these are intimidation tactics. At the border, US border patrol agents have shot and killed teenagers who were protesting their actions against their border cities, and in most cases, these
border agents are acquitted for their violence against unarmed teens. They even shot a young Mexican citizen in the
back of the head as he was fleeing and US officials found no wrongdoing and acquitted the case. This kind of violence has even dated back to Obama's Presidency.
In response to their violence and their rhetoric, many Latino communities have risen up in opposition to these unjust deportations, and are heavily arming themselves and preparing for the worst. It is very clear that the Republican party only seems to care about freedom and liberty when a Democrat is in power, but are readily going to give up peoples rights and abuse their own US Citizens when they control the House and the Senate. Latinos are being targeted in their own communities and this has to stop before it gets violent.
