The ‘Mass’ Deportation of Political Thought in Place of Immigrant Gangsters and the New Guantanamo Bay
Instead of weapons we’re attacking words.
War is the health of the state…—Randolph Bourne
Woodrow Wilson’s committee on Public Information churned out domestic propaganda instructing the public how to detect pro-German sympathies. A 22-year-old J. Edgar Hoover administered a program that photographed, fingerprinted, and interrogated 500,000 suspects.
Local newspapers published the names of people who were not buying war bonds or otherwise supporting the war. People were fired or ostracized for insufficient enthusiasm. The Espionage Act of 1917 made it a crime to “collect, record, publish, or communicate” information useful to the enemy.
The war unleashed a flu pandemic that killed more people in a year — somewhere between 20 million and 50 million — than the war killed in four years.
George Will, America’s Dark Home Front During World War I
Randolph Bourne died during the pandemic in 1918.
War is the health of the state. It automatically sets in motion throughout society those irresistible forces for uniformity, for passionate cooperation with the government in coercing into obedience the minority groups and individuals which lack the larger herd sense. —Randolph Bourne
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was also used during World War One, enacted by President Wilson to deport, as is written above, anyone of German descent or immigrants with pro-German sympathies.
Maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s enaction is quickly becoming the most controversial move in contemporary politics by the current administration, and this administration is getting the most controversial use of the law in history, if you haven’t heard of it, that’s okay, I’ll explain.
Alien Enemies and Another Chip Off the Free Speech Block
During the campaign that led to our current leadership illegal immigration became a leading cause. Even the first-generation immigrants who hold the contract to clean up the factory where I work said “Trump was their guy.” After the win there was polling from Axios/Ipsos saying, “66% of Americans support deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally.”
For context, the last four years during the Biden administration there was an effort to loosen restrictions at the southern border. People speculate that this was a way to increase Democrat voters by bringing them in, removing voter ID, and supporting them through controversial moves like giving them jobs, health insurance, expensive hotels and debit cards where they would receive money to pay for their expenses. Although most of that did happen, it’s not totally clear there was a clear plan to get these people to vote blue. In fact, if you look at voter demographics the opposite turned out to be true. What is more likely is this was a backlash to what was perceived as harsh immigration policies under the first Trump administration — maybe you remember the “kids in cages” campaign — the problem is, and I believe we mostly all know this now — those cages were built under the Obama administration. Barack Obama deported more people in his time per capita than any administration had in history, but the way Trump campaigned on this issue, and the other side demonized over this issue, the assumption became that he was the worst. And we all know what “assumptions” do, they make and “ass” out of “ump.
After four years of a lax border, twelve million illegal crossings, the killing of several innocent American civilians, a young girl by the name of Laken Riley, when Donald Trump came back — once again — running on mass deportations, getting rid of anyone illegal who was here committing crimes against the American people, we didn’t ask too many questions of the who, what, when, why nature. When he said he would enact the Alien Enemies Act to get rid of members of the Mexican drug cartel, Venezuelan gang members, and what he called “rapists and killers released from central American prisons to make room and dropped off at our border,” we thought, Hell yea! At least someone is doing something.
You might even say that a 66% approval of this policy gives him a mandate to get it done. We never guessed that no one along the way would Show proof this person is who you say they are or affiliated or wait, no judge? Oh, this person isn’t actually illegal!? They are just exercising the first amendment rights that GOD granted them?! That what our Constitution says, “We find these rights to be SELF-EVIDENT! That means you were born with them. In our defense, that should’ve been a given, we shouldn’t have had to ask that question. Due process is the backbone of our justice system. In the past if the court was backed up by congestion, which I’m sure would no doubt happen if all these people had to see a judge, I’ve heard this excuse bounced around. They set up a rocket docket system, get ‘em in, get ‘em out, but at least there is a guardrail between the officer on the street and the plane in the air. Even fearmongery fictional depictions like season seven of Orange is the New Black had the deportations seeing a judge before they were put on a plane.
So, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a wartime law still on the books, “officially titled “An Act Respecting Alien Enemies,” that has been used in a time of war three times since it was passed in 1798. Every time it was used against those who we were at war with. It was created to supplement the Alien Friends Act, which was temporary, for the same principles of which the President could enact at any time there was war breaking out, and the President needed it. Kinda like the “Emergency Powers Act”, or Emergency Use Authorization, and those have worked out superbly, or shall I say, “They were tremendous!”
“This law granted the President of the United States the power to arrest, relocate, or deport any male over the age of 14 who originated from a foreign enemy nation.” Facing zero controversy at the time of its passing, “The act was seen as a necessary wartime measure, ensuring that individuals from enemy nations could be monitored and removed if deemed a threat to national security. Over the centuries, various U.S. presidents have invoked the act, making it a significant component of American wartime policy.”
The Alien Enemies Act was one of four laws passed under the Alien and Sedition Acts, a set of controversial measures enacted by the Federalist-controlled Congress in 1798.
These laws were created during heightened tensions with France, particularly amid the Quasi-War. The Alien Friends Act allowed the president to deport any non-citizen deemed “dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States,” while the Sedition Act criminalized criticism of the federal government.
The Sedition Act was later repealed and replaced with the Espionage Act of 1917, and then was extended with the Sedition Act of 1918, and is still in use today. Ask Julian Assange.
In fact, the Alien Enemies Act is what they do to immigrants, the Sedition Act is what they do to us. So, there is the Alien-Enemies and the Enemies’-Enemies.
So, Donald Trump, our dear leader, with permission from a majority of the American people who elected him, to deport the illegals that were taking jobs, transporting fentanyl, and taking over whole apartment complexes like spicy Nino Brown’s, is given an opportunity of a lifetime, and what does he do? Immediately starts squandering the mandate that he had by — not just deporting the wrong people, he’s deporting the wrong people, and partnering with Bukele, President of El Salvador, sending them to this prison called CECOT, which is known as a George Bush Torture Regime level prisons in a country where they have never been. And it doesn’t end there, the place is known for human rights abuses, “like overcrowding, lack of due process, and inhumane conditions.” Which isn’t physical torture, but psychologically, it’s the worst abuse I could imagine, as far as human rights abuses. As far as these people know — and we know for that matter — these people are serving a life sentence. No plans of due process, no court date coming up, I’m sure this is hard for the DC elite and a New York Real Estate tycoon to empathize with, but it’s not hard for me, I’ve felt this to such a lesser extreme and it was the worst thing that has ever happened to me.
There is nothing worse than not knowing if, or when, you’ll get a chance to see a judge. That’s actual torture and should be condemned to the fullest extent. We didn’t even do that shit to Timothy McVeigh!
But that’s not all! Not only are we not deporting actual criminals, but we’re also yanking green cards and deporting people who oppose war policies for wars we’re supposedly not fighting.
So, the Alien Enemies Act has been used a few other times. The war of 1812 it was used to deport the French, who we were at war with, in World War One it was used against Germans, who we were at war with, and in World War Two it was used to deport Japanese immigrants, who we were also at war with. Cool. I mean, that wasn’t cool, but we were actually at war with those people.
They are now deporting people we are not at war with. We didn’t even do this after 9/11. Plenty of people looked at Arabs with a distrustful eye, but no one deported them! That’s insane.
We have never deported someone until now who disagreed with the foreign policy of one of our “allies.” Mahmoud Khalil was a student who took part in negotiations at a protest against the slaughter happening in Gaza. He did the negotiations because he had the best rapport with the school administration and spoke the best. Rumeysa Ozturk was one of four co-authors of an op-ed for her school newspaper, Tufts Daily, calling for her school to join the protest of the same conflict.
And they’re not alone, “Secretary of State Marco Rubio estimates he’s revoked about 300 student visas.
“They’re visitors to the country. If they’re taking activities that are counter to our foreign –to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we’ll revoke the visa,” Rubio said to reporters.”
This is like getting deported from Britain in 2003 for attending the February 15th mass protest against the Iraq invasion.
The worst part, I believe, is that we would never deport them for speaking out against the American empire, but for some reason when it comes to this ally, we will not tolerate it.
One more, this is like deporting someone for protesting the dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi Prince’s goons. That’s what this is like.
For an administration that swore to bring back the “First Amendment” they sure do have a poor sense of what that means.
If they truly care about antisemitism, I can’t think of a worse way for to escalate it than to use it as a ploy to crush the freedom of speech in what’s known as the “freest country on Earth”, and use our laws and our tax dollars to arrest and deport people critical of one of our “allies” and when asked why? “Because they were antisemitic.”
Now, that the Trump administration has managed to weaponize this mandate at the behest of a nation-state committed to destroying the indigenous people to their south, a new poll has come out on immigration:
Maybe it’s fixed by CNN, but these new clarifications have destroyed what tiny inkling of hope I had in this system, now I’m back to tear it all down! If you can’t do it, someone else will.
Final point:
Although these wartime statutes are being used with the implication that this is a war, it is not! I clearly remember boomers, or one specifically, screaming at the top of his lungs in the 2010’s after every news station reported that Arizona had militias rising up and ‘border-watch activists’ killing people and committing armed robberies every other day, Rick said to me, “Jordan, don’t you understand, if this many Japanese (he definitely called them “japs”) crossed our border without us knowing in World War 2 we lost the war!’
As it turned out we didn’t then, and we haven’t now.
Furthermore, if Donald Trump would like to continue to be the ‘President who didn’t start any wars’ maybe he should stop trying to convince us that we’re fighting one, right now. This is like Churchill calling for the invasion of Germany after Germany was already conquered.
Mr. President, you have a job. Your job is upholding the Constitution, not protecting us from thoughts that your donors disagree with. Donald Trump is driving head on, no seatbelt at 110mph towards a legacy of ruin. Think Michael Hastings (see below) after the CIA took control of his car, with their Black Mirror-esque tools exposed by Wikileaks in Vault 7.
I don’t know if there is any turning back at this point, there sure was not for Michael.
Thank you for reading.
Editor-in-Chief