Since Donald trump declared war on immigrants there have been several examples of how dangerous America has become for immigrants. Some may argue, who cares, it is just immigrants. But Trump’s war on immigrants exposes U.S. citizens as well.
Over the last few years there have been several examples of U.S. citizens ordered to prove their citizenship simply for speaking Spanish in public. There have been several incidents of U.S. citizens being detained by ICE, and even deported because they just looked too Mexican for the officials. There are several documented cases of U.S. citizens being attacked by others for simply looking too Mexican.
Let us not forget that a U.S. citizen drive hours to kill Mexicans, some of which were U.S. citizens for being too Mexican.
The latest example of U.S. citizens suffering the consequences of Trump’s war on immigrants happened last month.
I realize that most of you reading this understand that those who live in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens but there remains many who this fact must be pointed out to them. As a matter of fact, a 2017 national poll showed that only 54% of those polled knew that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. I don’t know if it is the education system in America or that it is more about the color of the skin.
So for those of you that do not know, Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.
Except that when it comes to the war on immigrants, it is not about national origin, but rather about the color of the skin.
Consider José A. Guzmán-Payano, U.S. citizen Puerto Rican attending Purdue University.
On October 25, Guzmán attempted to purchase cold medicine at a CVS store in Indiana.
Even after providing a driver’s license and a U.S. passport for identification, the store refused to sell him the cold medicine because they thought he was not legally in the country.
A U.S. citizen providing valid identification was denied cold medicine by a private business simply because he looked too brown. Let that sink in for a moment.
Donald Trump’s war on immigrants is not about border security or doing it the “legal” way. It is about targeting people for being too brown.
It may seem like a problem for immigrants, but U.S. citizens are also targets in the hate war launched by Trump against brown people.
Those readers that have no problem when Donald Trump attacks immigrants, like me, should look at how U.S. citizens have also suffered and stop and think what it could mean for them as well, especially if they are too brown.
