The New American Order?

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The New American Order?

An Editorial

 How can we rise above the chaos and do better?

When Donald Trump won the election, I suggested that he was promoting a new world order.  To further highlight this position, I pointed out that candidate Trump attacked the work of Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama and wanted to dissolve many of the international agreements and treaties that they supported.  He continually argued that our trade and military agreements were unfair and that America was continually paying more than its continental or European allies.

Although “America First” seemed isolationist in nature, it promoted Trump’s vision of a future United States sharing the world stage with Russia and China. That new spheres of influence would emerge so that Russia would have Europe, and China could control Asia, and America could choose from what was left.

In a unique manner, the president-elect had triumphed a new version of 19^th century colonialism. He incorporated ideas of racial superiority and religious intolerance to make the case that it was acceptable to close the nation’s borders to outsiders. A Muslim-travel ban was the first step to allegedly keep America safe. It was followed by calls for a border wall to keep Central and South Americans from “invading the nation,” and the desire to deport all undesirable aliens.

Trump’s agenda has witnessed the United States grow closer to Israel and Saudi Arabia so that they can destroy Iran and develop their own spheres of control in the Middle East; the US attack Canada and Mexico our long standing border allies; and weaken the ties with our NATO and European Union allies.  Currently, America is more interested in good relations with North Korea than Japan or being closer to China and Russia than the European Union.  The creation of this new world order is well underway.

However, most Americans seem unaware of the changes, and those that see the changes are resisting what they perceive as a threat to American democracy. Contrary to what is being promoted in numerous media outlets, there is little connection between Trump’s “populism” and populist movements in Europe. What is happening in the United States is a series of revolutions in the guise of an attack on liberal elites. Although President Trump is not widely accepted in elite social circles, he is not trying to destroy American elitism but rather preserve it and place his family at its forefront.

Almost a year ago, I wrote the following words concerning the incidents in Charlottesville Virginia: “In accepting President Trump’s perspectives, we are accepting a warped notion of history and a distorted notion of reality.”  Those words are just as important today as they were then.

We are now looking at another crisis where the president’s leadership and ideas are problematic. In essence, the president's "Zero Tolerance" policy is criminalizing Latinos more than other immigrant groups as a threat to national security.  Most of these Latinos are Central Americans seeking asylum.  However, in the process the United States has harmed the welfare of children by separating them from parents and other adults and placing them in detention centers (many that resemble prisons) while the adults are being prosecuted for illegally entering the United States. 

          It is foolhardy to accept the idea that a nation that borders on poorer and less developed nations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean is not going to experience the push and pull effects of immigration. To stem the tide of unwanted and illegal immigration from these nations will not be solved by a wall or mass deportations. America must play a role in making those nations better to make people want to stay in their homelands.

But let’s not kid ourselves America wants immigrants, in fact it needs immigrants to work in low wage occupations. So, is this crisis about immigration, economics, or racism?

It is hard to believe that thousands of people from other nations don’t fly into the United States and never leave. Hence, should this crisis focus solely on those who try to sneak into the county or additionally discuss those who come legally and don’t leave after their visas have expired? In reality both are committing crimes.

The truth is becoming harder to deny. Once again as in Charlottesville, as with the S-hole nations comment, the knelling NFL players, the deaths of soldiers in Niger, the attacks on Congresswomen Waters and Wilson, the movement of the US Embassy in Israel, response to the hurricane disasters in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and with so many other situations, President Trump is making race a key component of his policies and talking points. This time, in separating over 2,500 Latino children from their parents, sending children off to foster homes in various states, and keeping others in over crowded prison-like detention centers, the president reinforces that new American order supports a lack of empathy and concern for people of color.  President Trump’s “America First” is no longer a muted cry to racism. Everyone can hear its dog-whistle.

In 2017, it was estimated that there are over 11 million illegal residents in the United States. Statistics and data point out that after our closest American neighbors (Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) that next numerical groupings are from China, India, Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam. Asians are roughly 9% of the undocumented/illegal residents and Europeans about 4% of the total. Neither Asians nor Europeans are walking to and crossing the Mexican border.  And within the hemisphere, Cubans, Canadians, Haitians, and Dominicans also enter the United States and remain without ever crossing the Mexican border. Mexico might contribute to the flow of people seeking refuge in America, but it is not the only source for illegal entry.

The talk of the wall and the crisis at the border has made us lose sight of the larger issues surrounding immigration and this administration. Consider the travel ban. This ban solely denies access to Muslims in countries President Trump does not like and provides easy entry to Muslims that the president favors. Similarly, Chinese and other Asian investors, are promised fast-tracked citizenship if they invest in American development. So are we focusing our immigration policies on geo-political issues, economic interests or race?  Why is the anti-immigration focus so strongly directed towards Latinos if they are not the sole targets of our national immigration ire?

National security? Seriously, a “wall” won’t keep everyone out and it won’t make us safe. America, according to the same voices supporting the wall, is not safe.  Let’s not forget that the majority of world's guns owners are Americans and there are more gun murders and mass-murders in the US than anywhere in the world. Furthermore, there are more incarcerated people in America than in any other developed nation. Race plays a major role in our perceptions of safety. The majority of imprisoned Americans are black, but the majority of the victims of crime are black. In contrast, the majority of American gun owners are white.
Those same voices blame Central and South Americans for bringing drugs and other crimes to our shores. But in making these claims are they ignoring the existence of Asian, European, and Russian gangs in America? They also deal in money laundering, drugs, weapons and prostitution.

The call for a wall and the systematic mentioning of Central American gangs highlights the use of race to create fear and panic. This tactic now extends to Latino children by suggesting that children are pawns of gangs and should be detained. Such language and imagery only enhances existing fears. To instigate that the majority of Latinos crossing the border are or will become gang members, drug dealers, sex workers, and criminals continues to distinguish Latinos from all others desiring access to the US.  Despite what he has said on the campaign trail and during his speeches as president, the facts show that President Trump’s narrative is not true. Most Latinos immigrants are not criminals. and in fact, all immigrants have a lower crime rate than native-born Americans.

Today the president will try to re-invigorate his points on the evils of Central and South American immigrants by having a press conference with “Angel Families.” These are families who lost loved ones to illegal Latino immigrants. (No such movement is promoted by the White House to remember people killed by mass-shootings or by illegal immigrants from other continents) The president will receive praise as family members will thank him and support his Mexican border initiatives.  The president will again blame the Democrats as obstructionists. The president will seize the day as a victory.

Such brainwashing should cause everyone to criticize what is happening. (It should force Congress to act. However, it will not as the president needs to turn this into an election issue.) Once again, the president is trying to frame moral equivalents with children separated from their families and families mourning their victims of crime and murder. There are no moral equivalents. Neither situation is desirable.

President Trump is using the plight of the “Angel Families” to justify his actions. We all share in the suffering of the “Angel Families.” However, this press conference draws attention away from what is happening at the border. Standing on the sidelines with children crying and possibly permanently separated from their parents is un-American. You cannot equate crying children with child actors, or spending the day at child-care. No one is talking about open borders and letting everyone enter the country. And no American is in favor of open-borders. What we should be talking about is humanity and respect.

As a historian I have an understanding of the ways that immigration laws have been used throughout the 19^th and 20^th centuries and some of the influential court cases. I also know recent proposals from Republicans or Democrats will probably fail because the nation is so divided and politicians are afraid or losing elections.

In reality, only one person had the ability to unify the nation and get Congress to pass a fair and just law. Unfortunately, the administration blew it through lying about the legality of the Mexican border crisis, denying that children were placed in camps, cages and surrounded by fences, and a host of racist actions. Anyone who sees the situation differently is not examining the history of this nation. Americans need to stop watching a particular news network and calling the other networks fake news. We all need to realize that today’s events are tomorrow’s consequences.

Roughly 60% of all illegals have been in the United States for at least a decade. About a third of the total number of illegal residents came into the United States through visas.  For example, journalists and researchers have documented that many of the 50,000 illegal Irish have been here for as many as forty years.  All of the 75,000 Canadians were allowed to enter the United States through existing treaties. 

So, there is no doubt that the United States has an immigration problem, but what is the solution? Should a resolution involve massive round-ups and deportations, break-ups of families, or a path to citizenship for all who are currently here?

I’m tired of hearing people say "my family did it the right way," because many of us have no knowledge of that fact. They think it was done the right way! Laws and political situations welcoming immigrants have changed over time. Maybe your country pushed your ethnic group or religion out of your homeland, maybe the US welcomed you as a political refugee or pawn, or maybe your family smuggled its way into the US.

That is ancient history!

What matters now is creating a new set of policies and laws because the current ones are not working. Let’s move forward as a unified nation. Do we want this new American order or do we want something else?

We were once the self-proclaimed beacon to the world. America is more diverse now than at any time since the colonial era. Yet, daily we are losing our moralism as a percentage of our citizenry fear a self-described economic and racial annihilation. They do not want a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural America.  Many have ignored the incidents leading up to Zero Tolerance, and in doing so have ignored that the Trump administration has treated American citizens of color differently than white Americans.  
Keep in mind that 19^th century America was about limited and racially motivated immigration and citizenship, while in the 20^th century, America tried to overthrow such notions leading the way to universal citizenship. Is 21^st century America a continuation of the 20th or return to limited citizenship of the 19th?

Instead of seeing what America decided it wanted to be in its 1965 (and beyond) immigration laws, we are running away from the future that four generations of presidents set in motion. Once again there is a crisis and Americans are engaged in name calling and self-shaming. The world is watching and we are failing the test.

I close with this warning: the consequences of our actions will take root much sooner rather than later.