Counterterrorism expert Malcolm Nance obliterated the Trump administration on Saturday, saying their immigration policies are rooted firmly in bigotry.
“It’s like they have a Department of Hatred and Heartless now,” Nance said, jokingly saying that White House officials are seemingly fighting over who gets to be director and assistant director.
Video:
Malcolm Nance slams the Trump administration’s immigration policy as “institutionalized bigotry.” #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/SMTOFJSZQc
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) May 12, 2018
Nance teed off on the administration:
It’s like they have a Department of Hatred and Heartless now, and they’re taking out trials to see who is going to be the director and assistant director. This whole thing, and along with the concept of building a wall, you know I come from the national security side of it. Look, General Kelly couldn’t seal a border between Afghanistan and Pakistan with terrorists flying back and forth across it every day. You’re not going to be able to secure it. This is not the Soviet Union. We don’t put up iron curtains. This is the United States of America. We actually have these things called laws, people own property down there. And they don’t seem to care at all about it. This is just — let’s be honest about it. It’s a form of institutionalized bigotry based on racism against people coming from the south. And until we recognize that, they will keep insisting that this is the top national security priority of the United States.
The Trump administration has turned their heartlessness up to 11Â
On the same day this week that Melania Trump launched a so-called campaign for children, her husband’s administration announced they would separate kids from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.
As the LA Times reported, “The crackdown, which took effect last week and will be formally announced later Monday, will mean that parents bringing children over the border illegally will likely be separated if caught, according to an official at the Department of Homeland Security, who did not want to be identified before the policy was unveiled.”
Add this stunning shift in U.S. immigration enforcement policy to the recent comments from Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly, who said immigrants “don’t have the skills” to succeed in America, and you see that this administration is driven by hatred.
At the end of the day, this isn’t about enacting a humane and effective immigration policy. None of those things will be accomplished with Trump’s plans, after all.
Instead, Donald Trump knows he struck political gold in his immigration message. His ability to convince angry white voters that all of their troubles should be pinned on voiceless brown people – that’s the reason he sits in the White House today. It’s also the reason that 30-35 percent of the country will stand by him no matter what he says and does.
If he were to abandon that message – however hateful and phony it is – he would lose his base and commit political suicide.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
