White race riot continues :America's enduring appetite for Trump's deportation cruelty

America's enduring appetite for Trump's deportation cruelty Chauncey DeVega <


POLICE Most Americans know the names of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, two unarmed American citizens who were killed in January by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis because they dared to help the human targets of Donald Trump's cruel policies. Their moral stand against injustice led to their deaths.Many others have also suffered because of the Trump administration’s policies. We must never forget their names. They are real human beings and not collateral damage. Power and policy are not abstractions — they hurt real people’s bodies, minds and lives, and the well-being of the larger community. On Feb. 26, Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a nearly blind Rohingya refugee from Myanmar who spoke little English, was found dead on a street in Buffalo, New York. Reported missing on Feb. 19, he was dropped off by Border Patrol agents at a coffee shop, on a cold day, alone. He had no shoes, only the orange booties given to him at a detention center. Alam was in the country legally, but he had been detained for almost a year in the Erie County jail and released on a misdemeanor plea deal. Border Patrol took him into custody and determined they could not legally deport him. He had been arrested after a minor altercation with police; Alam was apparently too confused to follow their orders. His son told Reuters that his father could not read, write or use electronic devices. The family lives on the other side of the city, miles away from the coffee shop. After releasing him, Border Patrol apparently did not attempt to contact Alam’s family or his attorney. Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan told CNN that Alam’s death embodies “bad policing [and] bad human beings.” The behavior of the federal agents, he said, was “inhumane” and an example of “why we do not cooperate with ICE, Homeland Security and Border Patrol.” In a statement to the Daily Beast, Customs and Border Protection said that Alam “showed no signs of distress, mobility issues, or disabilities requiring special assistance” and was left at “a warm, safe location near his last known address.” The Trump administration is supposedly “investigating” Alam’s premature death. Whatever the finding may be, bureaucratic legalese will not bring him back to life, and Border Patrol’s callous actions are part of a much larger pattern of behavior. There are widespread reports of inhumane treatment and violations of human and civil rights — including excessive force, lack of medical care, and physical, sexual, emotional, and other forms of abuse — in Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol detention centers across the country. Reports indicate that children and other vulnerable people are also being mistreated. Want more sharp takes on politics? Sign up for our free newsletter, Standing Room Only, written by Amanda Marcotte, now also a weekly show on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. These stories come in addition to other Kafkaesque reports about the real people being ensnared in the administration’s cruel mass deportation machine. U.S. military veterans who served with distinction are being deported. Members of the LGBTQ community are being sent back to countries where they are likely to be killed. College students are being grabbed at airports or taken from their dorms by federal agents and put in detention for immediate deportation.