Quote of the Day: Immigration edition

From a perceptive column by Masha Gessen in The New York Times:

But what’s wrong with the decision to discontinue DACA is that people — not workers — will be deported. Lives — not careers — will be shattered. The problem is that it’s inhumane. As long as politicians consider it necessary to qualify the victims as “hardworking” or “talented,” they fail to stand up to the administration’s fundamentally hateful immigration agenda.

They discussed this idea on The Majority Report yesterday, making the point that this kind of rhetoric might seem necessary, though it creates unnecessary hurdles for immigrant groups and plays into conservative tropes about difference and, ultimately, the dangers of allowing these “others” to mix with “American” society.

This ties to my post yesterday about whiteness as the overriding focus of all of our immigration restrictions.

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet