NOPE, I DON’T THINK SO

As your GOP reps flaunt the Big Beautiful [BS] Bill, they would like to pass before the 4th of July, they tout that it will increase the budget of ICE by $8million. That is the money they will use to put masked armed men in the streets to disappear people. Yes, that is exactly what they have been doing. The undocumented father of 3 marines in Los Angeles was detained and beaten. There have been mothers dragged from the safety of their homes.

Here are the stats on this as of June 15:  

• 56,397 immigrants in detention.
• 72% have no criminal record
• Many of the 30%’s crime were minor offenses such as traffic violations
• 80% of the immigrant population are no threat to the population
• 7% of the detained population are violent criminals

These poor people were landscapers, farmers, bodega owners, waiters, doctors, students, health care workers, professors, and I can go on and on. Some of their crimes were to speak out. Another was to go to the courts to check in on their status [which you are required to do by law]. At that point they are snatched up and their families might never see them again.

Firstly let’s talk about the corruption involved. The two contractors who worked to build what they are referring to as “Alligator Alcatraz” are significant donors to DeSantis and Trump. They have donated over $1 million to both men’s campaigns under various PACs. This is the beginning of privatizing prisons to make Trump’s friends rich.

DeSantis and the Florida state party Republicans tout the deadly alligators and pythons that will pose danger to those detained. The state GOP has a merch shop selling disturbing swamp-themed merchandise. Amazon is selling it as well.

Trump said about the prison ” . . .very soon, this facility will house some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.” He is talking about our neighbors, people who have lived in our neighborhoods for many years, whose children attended school with our children, who go to parent teacher meetings to assure their children are doing well. They are not menacing and they are not vicious.

The one-year cost of running the facility is $450 million, which will come from FEMA’s shelter and services program. So when a horrible storm hits Florida, I’m unsure whether FEMA will have any funds to house those who need temporary housing.

You might be watching a cable show who have hosts who are laughing about detainees trying to escape and being torn to pieces by alligators. The GOP certainly have Senators and Representatives joking about it. This is what has become of America. Cruelty to those less fortunate, cruelty to those who are black and brown, cruelty to those who have stolen food to feed their children; cruelty to those who are here to make a better life for their families–the same reason our families came here.

The cruelty continues as Trump and his authoritarian government takes shape. The GOP are all in on this–there is no doubt about that. When my rep Nicole Malliotakis posts, it is always about the criminal immigrants and how increased funding of ICE will imprison all of them. She is complicit in the cruelty as are the rest of the GOP.