Hello, happy Thursday. There are only 12 days until the election, but today I would like to talk about America.

Not the country, but the woman, America Ramirez Lomeri.

At the age of two, he was brought across America’s border illegally by his mother for the same reason that millions of others have crossed that dangerous border: the hope of a better life. Ta.

Then she found a home in a tidy trailer on the outskirts of Sacramento, filled with cacti her mother was growing and stray cats her mother had adopted. And love, there’s a lot of love in that small space.

Jilia, an American mother, worked hard, like most immigrant mothers.

She learned new skills because her job was too simple to support her family. She persuaded the construction workers to take it on. Despite the gender discrimination, she achieved excellent grades, but her work has stagnated in recent months. The granite counters in her home are proof that she is a self-sufficient woman. I remodeled the entire kitchen myself.

And while Gilia worked, America did what immigrant children do and crawled out. She excelled in school, excelled at the University of California, Davis, and now works to support female farmworkers. Lideres Campesinas.

She is the kind of Californian who makes us all proud.

Mass deportation for what?

So why am I talking about America? Because her family, and the families of thousands of others, is what Donald Trump wants to destroy with his promise of mass deportation. In his words, these are criminals, lunatics, and murderers who are “poisoning the blood” of our country.

It’s “ignorance towards people like me who work really hard,” the American said. “I’m really, really trying. I’m a graduate of the University of California. I have a job and I pay taxes. It’s like, that’s what they think I am, but I’m not. I’m kind of pissed off by the rhetoric.”

America managed to obtain citizenship and her siblings were born in America, but her mother was not. Is this what we want to tear apart the family we want, take a wonderful mother away from her children, and send her to a country she has not known for decades? For what?

There is no reason other than racism behind such policies.

California has about 10 million immigrants, approximately 1.85 million of whom are illegal immigrants. It has the highest immigrant population of any state, accounting for approximately 23% of the nation’s foreign-born population.

Like American families, many of these people find themselves in situations where some loved ones have legal status and others do not. So when we talk about deportation, we’re not talking about 1.85 million Californians. Many more people will be hurt as their lives are turned upside down by a sea of ​​uncertainty.

But of all the abhorrent ideas Trump has vowed to implement if elected president, mass deportation is one he has the power to accomplish. In fact, there is little need to expand existing laws to introduce neighborhood cleansing, detention centers, or even detention centers.

speak up for the vulnerable

A mass deportation would destroy the Golden State. Frankly, it doesn’t have to be mass deportation, just deporting enough honest, hard-working Californians who happen to be in the country illegally.

That’s because the loss of Bel Air and Brentwood cleaners and gardeners would be a nuisance to employers. But in Echo Park, San Pedro, Cudahy and East Los Angeles, it will be mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers who disappear.

Californians cannot remain silent about the threat. We can’t just shrug our shoulders and say the Golden State won’t support Trump, so our job is done.

Setting aside other worries that President Trump’s economic plans will lead to inflation. that women’s reproductive rights would be further undermined; Democracy is hanging by a well-worn thread. These are all national concerns.

But there is no doubt that immigration is inherently a concern for California.

As residents of the most diverse state in the commonwealth, we have a duty to represent our most vulnerable residents, those who are unable to represent themselves at the polls because they do not have the right to vote. California has woven documented and undocumented immigrants into our culture, communities, and values. We know that paper does not make a person better, any more than paper makes a person worse.

Our state will continue to support President Trump on immigration so that people in other states, whose views on immigration may be shaped more by President Trump’s rhetoric than by reality, can hear the truth about real diversity. We must be the loudest and loudest voice pushing back against the president’s false, cruel and dangerous rhetoric. means.

Otherwise, we’re telling America, to our neighbors, family, and friends, that while the Golden State may not support Trump, it also can’t be bothered to oppose him. .

What else to read:

Must read: They are fellow Americans and they are here for the (political) party.
Extremism Watch: How a conspiracy-fueled group gained a foothold in this hurricane-hit town
LA Times Feature: In Kamala Harris’ Berkeley, political activism is part of growing up

stay golden,
Anita Chhabria

PS Here is President Trump talking about immigration in his own words.

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