The Trump administration will never disavow white supremacy because it would then require disavowing itself. CNN reports that the needs-to-be-defunded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is apparently thinking about plastering “immigration violators” across billboards, a propaganda campaign that’s clear purpose is to aid impeached president Donald Trump’s reelection.
“It's unclear what the billboards will look like and at what cost. If the plan proceeds, it seems intended to single out sanctuary jurisdictions and stoke fear within those communities,” CNN reports. The evil historical connection is very clear however, the American Immigration Council’s Aaron Reichlin-Melnick tweeted: “A reminder that the Nazis would publish lists of ‘Criminal Jews’ as part of their attempts to smear entire population groups as evil and worthy of state oppression.”
The Trump administration, under the watch of White House aide and noted white supremacist Stephen Miller, has already ventured into this territory. In the first weeks of the administration, Miller and former Department of Homeland Security Sec. John Kelly rolled out the “VOICE” office, another taxpayer-funded propaganda outlet also intended to demonize undocumented immigrants as dangerous criminals. That too had connections to Nazi tactics.
“This strategy—one designed to single out a particular group of people, suggesting that there's something particularly sinister about how they behave—was employed to great effect by Adolf Hitler and his allies,” Amanda Erickson wrote in The Washington Post in 2017. “To spread these ideas, there were books (like the pamphlet pictured above) and films that portrayed Jews as subhuman.” Reichlin-Melnick shared the pamphlet referenced by Erickson:
For the millionth time, data has thoroughly debunked the administration’s racist nonsense about immigrants and criminality: immigrants are less likely than U.S.-born Americans to commit crime. “In fact, data shows that immigration is associated with lower crime rates,” Immigration Impact said in 2016. I mean, if Trump were this terrified about undocumented immigrants, he wouldn’t have them working as his personal housekeepers at his golf resorts.
There are few other details about ICE’s reported plan, which comes as the Trump administration is also reportedly preparing to launch raids terrorizing immigrant communities in a number of blue areas across the nation. Like these proposed billboards and the VOICE office, it’s a plainly political move that the administration is fully admitting to: “[t]wo officials with knowledge of plans for the sanctuary op described it as more of a political messaging campaign than a major ICE operation,” The Washington Post reported.
The news also comes as ICE marks its deadliest year since 2005. CNN reported that 21 immigrants died while in the custody of the out-of-control agency during the 2020 fiscal year, more than one-third of them after testing positive for COVID-19. “But advocates said the novel coronavirus isn't the only factor to blame for the growing number of deaths in ICE custody,” CNN continued. It’s also ICE’s intentional negligence that’s led to completely preventable in-custody deaths. But we’re guessing those responsible for deaths under their watch won’t get their photos plastered anywhere.