As the United States reeled from a mass shooting last weekend that left 22 people dead in the immigrant community of El Paso, Texas, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conducted sweeping raids on the immigrant community in Mississippi, where they took a full 680 people into custody — about half of whom were released within a day. Still, the damage was done. Families had been forcefully separated within the borders of the United States of America yet again, leaving children alone or almost there and more. During an appearance on Meet the Press this weekend, Democratic Senator from California and leading presidential candidate Kamala Harris lambasted the Trump administration’s so-called “campaign of terror” exemplified by these raids.
She told host Chuck Todd:
‘This administration has directed DHS to conduct these raids as part of what I believe is this administration’s campaign of terror, which is to make whole populations of people afraid to go to work. Children are afraid to go to school for fear that when they come home, their parents won’t be there.’
Check it out:
WATCH: Presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris says the Trump administration is running a “campaign of terror.” #MTP #IfItsSunday@SenKamalaHarris: “Children are afraid to go to school for fear that when they come home, their parents won’t be there.” pic.twitter.com/iWoQl8dnqW
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 11, 2019
As she noted, these raids have been designed to single out the immigrant communities even when other interests — in this case the companies they were working for — are largely responsible for the criminal activity of illegal employment. The four food processing companies Peco Foods, Koch Foods, PH Food, and Pearl River Foods are the ones who illegally employed these people, who in many cases don’t seem to have had any other strikes against them outside of their lack of paperwork. Still — as of this weekend, no charges have seemingly been brought against anyone in management at those companies. Instead, the Trump administration has simply taken the opportunity to target immigrants.
Harris suggested to Todd that at this point that there’s essentially nothing Trump could say or do at this point that would unilaterally redeem his administration for the Hispanic community. He’s entrenched in his position.
As she put it, getting at the end to the question of what Trump might say to “reassure” Hispanic Americans:
‘We have to speak truth: racism is real in this country. It was before he was elected; it will be after… I believe that the conversation has to be how we are going to speak truth about the history and then address it… People are afraid in this country… I don’t think it would be authentic if he did, and I think people are smart enough to know that.’
Watch:
EXCLUSIVE: Presidential candidate Kamala Harris says President Trump “beats people down.” #MTP #IfItsSunday@chucktodd: “Can he say anything, at this point, to reassure Hispanic Americans?”@SenKamalaHarris: “I don’t think it would be authentic if he did.” pic.twitter.com/HSPUcpAUvw
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 11, 2019
Besides the Mississippi raids, the Hispanic American community has also been targeted recently by that El Paso shooter, who confessed to specifically targeting “Mexicans” and posted a manifesto online with the exact same anti-immigrant rhetoric that Trump has used, decrying a supposed immigrant “invasion” of the United States.
Given the opportunity to renounce his rhetoric and express even a hint of “regret,” Trump refused to do so. Instead, he reaffirmed his commitment to the anti-immigrant arguments that the shooter explicitly used as an excuse for his attack, and again left the Hispanic community in the United States out in the cold.
Featured Image via screenshot
