Besides Stephen Miller getting back at the Mexican kids
who called him "pinche gringo" in high school,
and when he asked them what it meant,
they said, "beach body,"
and so he kept calling himself that for years?
I'm Francesca Fiorentini, and in this episode of Newsbroke
we're looking at how this administration is
systematically trying to unbrown America.
And that doesn't just mean mass deportation:
It means ensuring brown people
are forever excluded from democracy.
The cats out of the white hood, people:
This administration, and the Republicans who support it,
are trying to stop immigrants of color from becoming citizens,
and they've been working on so many levels,
you really have to step back to appreciate it all.
Trump's immigration policy is like Monet's water lilies,
except they're just turds floating in an undrained swamp.
Listen, I get wanting to look away from the issue of immigration:
It's painful to witness, like a train wreck,
or your parents having sex
on a train that's wrecking,
but like, your parents are into it?
So, to recap where we are in this ring of Hell:
ICE arrests have gone up by 33 percent since 2016,
and ICE has held an average of over 42,000 people each day in 2018–
the highest average since 2001.
Under the travel ban against Muslim majority countries,
the State Department has rejected more than 37,000 visa applications.
Visa denials have also skyrocketed
specifically among Mexicans, Caribbeans and South Asians.
Trump is now trying to hold children in detention indefinitely,
and is issuing deportation orders
for immigrants undergoing life-saving treatment for genetic diseases.
That is a lot of sadness at once,
so here is an obese cat playing with a baguette.
Oooh look at the hind legs!
Hoo cha cha cha cha ooooh!
But some countries haven't seen much change at all.
For comparison, only three Canadians were denied visas in 2018—
and that's only because they were trafficking insulin.
Hey, buddy.
Sorry to bother you,
but I heard about your glucose problem.
Also, the administration wants to eliminate
family-based visa programs except for spouses or minors,
stop all refugees from entering the U.S.
and is even thinking of changing the Constitution's fourteenth amendment,
which guarantees birthright citizenship.
We're looking at that very seriously—
—birthright citizenship—
where you have a baby in our land,
you walk over the border—have a baby:
Congratulations, the baby is now a US citizen.
Mr. Trump, that's your son.
We know that privately Trump has said he doesn't want people
from so-called "sh[censored]t-hole" countries,
which we know means those with Africans and Latinos,
because he then turned around and said he wanted
more immigrants from Norway,
which he might want to reconsider
because 71% of Norwegians believe Donald Trump
constitutes a real threat to world peace.
Trump's affinity for Norway is as one-sided
as all of his relationships,
romantic or otherwise.
All of these things amount to the great American unbrowning
—the strongest part of Trump's presidential legacy
next to cold filet-o-fish.
But no matter what he says,
it's what he and the GOP are doing that's ultimately important.
So we might say that this is all just about attracting qualified immigrants
and what they call "merit-based immigration."
It's time to begin moving toward a merit-based
immigration system—one that admits people who are skilled
—who want to work.
Okay, those who have skills and contribute and—
about 680 migrants were rounded up at seven food processing plants
in six cities in Mississippi—
—are f[censored]king working.
That raid, targeting mostly Latino workers,
was also on the first day of school in Mississippi
leading to this unforgettably wrenching moment.
Hmm, let's see.
Which workers have more merit?
The people who make your Popeye's chicken sandwich possible?
Or whatever lackeys took that kid's dad away from her?
I better see MAGA chuds getting up at 5 in the morning
to pull out chicken gizzards for $7.00 an hour.
Suddenly feels like a skill, huh.
Wanting to switch to a merit-based immigration system
is a thin veil for racism
that also directly discriminates against the working poor
because it's utter hypocrisy that immigrants are being punished
instead of companies who hire undocumented people
to be able to keep paying crap wages
that no citizen would want.
And yet, the Republican Party is basically putting
all of the remaining rotten eggs it has into the bigot basket,
which pits white people against brown immigrants.
Just listen to Senator—and guy who never helps you with your bag on an airplane—
Tom Cotton as he falsely pits immigrants against American workers.
We bring over a million immigrants into this country a year.
That means it puts great downward pressure
on people who work with their hands
and work on their feet.
Now, for some people, they may think that that's the symbol
of America's virtue and generosity.
I think it's a symbol that we're not committed to working class Americans.
What?
If anything, corporations aren't committed to working class Americans.
And the government denying people citizenship status,
ensuring there's always a powerless work force,
actually helps them to do that.
Undocumented people are like movie extras:
They're underpaid and overworked.
And while their work often goes unnoticed, they're critical to every film.
Getting mad at them for doing work nobody else wants to
would be the equivalent of Jennifer Aniston going
"I feel threatened by coffee girl number six."
And to further divide the American people,
the administration has introduced the so-called "public charge" rule,
which denies green cards to people who have used social programs
or might use them in the future,
even though undocumented immigrants are
already barred from receiving any public assistance.
That's like adding another sign next to
"you must be this tall to ride" that just says,
"You must be this short to watch your brother from the bench like a dweeb."
But this isn't just about cruelty.
Republicans are running a larger, race-based political play.
We know that by the year 2044, non-hispanic white people
will no longer be a majority.
And now the Trump's in office, anti-immigrant zealots have been emboldened,
and everyone from Fox News pundits to local politicians are saying the quiet part out loud.
In some parts of the country it does seem like the America that we know and love...
doesn't exist anymore.
My suggestion—recommendation:
Keep Marysville a white community as much as possible.
If we don't do something about immigration very, very soon,
the demographics of our country will be irrevocably changed,
and it will be a very different country.
It will not be the country you were born in.
No nation—no society has ever changed this much this fast.
No nation?
Ok, just for some context,
Turkey has taken in over 3 million Syrian refugees
while the US has taken in 18,000.
Americans claiming we're number one at something we're clearly not
is proof that we have not changed at all.
Ok, but if I'm picking up with they're laying down,
that means there will be fewer alienated, white men with access to assault weapons
and more cumbia and biryani?
That sounds amazing!
Now the thing about Trump's anti-brown immigration policies is that...
they're not going to work.
The Washington Post estimated that
even if Trump got his way on limiting brown immigrants,
he'd only be pushing back the date at which white people become a minority
by a maximum of five years.
So why even attempt to alienate non-white immigrants
if you've already lost a white majority to that terrifying prospect of equality?
I can think of only two reasons: 1) delaying demographic changes
gives white nationalists a few more years to start their mythical race war.
Of course once there's a remake of Top Gun with only black lesbian pilots
and Lizzo singing "Take My Breath Away,"
which would definitely kick it off.
Also, I'd watch the f[censored]ck out of that...
before I go fight.
But the real reason to sideline just enough brown immigrants
has everything to do with how the GOP has hijacked the democratic process.
Republicans don't have to kick out all undocumented immigrants
or rescind green cards or take away visas;
They just have to limit them enough,
and make sure that the rest are never part of the political process.
Take the US census, which is coming up in 2020.
The Trump administration is determined to add a citizenship question on the census
and was narrowly stopped by the Supreme Court in doing so,
but they'll keep trying.
Newsbroke did a whole episode on the census, which you should watch after this.
See with the citizenship question, the government can scare brown communities
across the country into not divulging their information
and thereby undercounting them and shaping democracy for the next decade.
One think-tank estimated that between a citizenship question
and new methods of census-taking,
the government could under count as many as 4 million people.
All this matters because the census determines how much funding a state receives.
And it can sway a presidential election
since the census determines how many lawmakers each state has
and therefore how many electors in the electoral college it has.
Oh yeah.
We still haven't wheeled that pile of garbage out to the curb.
Although it is the only thing keeping Ohio relevant.
You know, since Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
And all that's funny because Alabama is poised to actually lose representatives after 2020.
because their population is dwindling.
and that's ironic because Alabama is also leading the nationwide charge
to exclude undocumented immigrants in the census
even though counting them would help them keep political control.
Because no one said racism was smart.
Yet while the citizenship question was struck down by the Supreme Court,
gerrymandering along racial and political lines was just upheld.
Good job Brett and Neil—Here are your milk biscuits.
Brett, that's Neil's!
No, No, Brett—Shh!
For a refresher, gerrymandering works like this.
Let's say you got a city— It's 60% black and it's 40% white.
Ok?
Here's how you ensure
white people stay in charge.
Divid the city into four voting districts.
But you put the entire black population in one district.
60% of the people.
And then each district elects one City Council member.
And voila.
Racist a ratatouille.
[chef's kiss]
The census data will most certainly continue to be used by GOP lawmakers
to manipulate the electorate in favor of Republicans, smaller states and white people.
So this anti-immigrant crusade is not Stephen Miller's long con
to winning San Diego's annual guacamole competition: The Guac Bowl.
Though he's not ruling it out.
This is about making sure America is ruled by a white minority.
It's the same thing that motivates voter suppression in black communities
and preventing the formerly incarcerated from voting.
The goal is to insulate American democracy,
no matter how brown the country gets,
and protect it...
...from actual democracy.
So yes.
Our immigration policy is cruel and inhumane.
But there is a point.
And that means that in addition to real immigration reform,
we have to hold tight to our democracy
...like a baguette.
Oooh so chonky!
Thanks so much for watching Newsbroke.
Please follow me @Franifio on Twitter and Instagram.
Let me know that you are watching.
And follow AJ+ on Youtube,
and Newsbroke on Facebook Watch.
And...
all the other...
platforms and things...
Are we on Snapchat?
Is Snapchat still a thing?
[in background] No.
Let me know if any of these demographic changes scare people you know,
whether your relatives or people you've spoken with
or just, you know, the angry lady at Target.
There are many of them.
How do we handhold our white people through these demographic changes?
I want to know in the comments below.
And thanks so much for watching.