In the wake of mass shootings in Gilroy, California and El Paso, Texas targetting Hispanics, and on the first day of school, ICE decided it was a great time to conduct a raid on undocumented workers.
ICE raided several processing plants in Mississippi detaining hundreds of suspected undocumented immigrants. Though ICE claims they contacted at least 12 schools, the school districts claim they were never contacted. Thus, many children of those suspected undocumented immigrants were going to empty homes.
America saw a crying child on television asking for her father’s release. Donald Trump saw it and loved it. He’s telling ICE to conduct more raids like the ones in Mississippi. The man who throws babies in jail wants to see more crying babies on TV. He believes that, along with being labeled a white supremacist, works well with his base.
While hundreds of employees of these plants were arrested and expected to be deported, many away from their children, the owners of the plants will probably go uncharged.
The law says an employer has to “knowingly” hire undocumented workers. So, the employer can look at a phony document, no matter how lousy the quality of the counterfeit, and claim stupidity. It’s how Donald Trump has been able to employ undocumented workers for decades. Donald Trump has a lot of experience at being stupid.
In fact, these companies that hire undocumented workers probably won’t even be investigated. The Trump Organization has been exposed for hiring undocumented workers yet there’s no indication they’ve ever been investigated or ever will be.
It seems pretty simple to me. If people like Donald Trump want to stop encouraging immigrants from “invading” our nation illegally, then people like Donald Trump should stop giving them jobs.
Support the cartoonist
As I noted in a previous cartoon, these are perilous times for political cartoonists. But you can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print).I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.
Trump’s pick to be the new director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, has multiple embellishments on his resumé.
He claims on his website and in campaign material that he tried suspects accused of funneling money to Hamas. As it turns out, that’s not true. He never prosecuted a case in the matter.
He was an interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas during George W. Bush’s administration. He was basically a placeholder in the position. But, Ratcliffe claims he oversaw terrorism cases, plural. The only example of any significant cases that concern national security is one trial where he prosecuted an Iraq War veteran who pleaded guilty to possessing a pipe bomb.
Ratcliffe also claims that during his time at U.S. attorney that he “arrested” over 300 illegal aliens in a single day that were illegally employed by chicken processing plants in five states. His House website makes the same claim. He did help bring charges against 280 noncitizens on identity fraud charges and other crimes to secure employment, but he didn’t arrest anyone. Even Matlock has more arrests than Ratcliffe because he was Sheriff of Mayberry first.
He also claimed on his 2016 campaign website and in a bio on his House website that he “put terrorists in prison.” This was the case involving a Muslim charity sending money to Hamas. Three former government lawyers and a former senior FBI official, when asked about John Ratcliffe’s involvement, said, “who?” They said he didn’t contribute any substance to the case. Plus, there were no convictions against the charity. One attorney said the mistrial hit the Justice Department like a “two-by-four in the middle of the forehead.” This is what Ratcliffe is basing his claim of putting “terrorists in prison.”
Also, it turns out he was never a member of the Backstreet Boys and didn’t co-write “I Want It That Way.”
The director of intelligence should have actual experience with national intelligence. The man Ratcliffe is replacing, Dan Coats, did not have to pad his resume. Coats predecessor, James Clapper, served as undersecretary of defense for intelligence, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (ask Ratcliffe or Trump what that is), and as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Later, Trump revoked Clapper’s security clearance because he said negative things about Trump. Ratcliffe, on the hand, has skeptics in his own party. He’s less of an actual analyst of intelligence and more of a Trump cultist.
Donald Trump also likes to boastéé about accomplishments he’s never accomplished. At one of his campaign stops, he displayed Trump steaks that were NOT Trump steaks and were actually purchased at a local butcher shop. Trump also did NOT help at the site of the World Trade Center, as he claimed earlier this week. In reality, after the WTC fell down from the attack by al Qaida, he boasted about how he now had the tallest building in New York City. And, just in case you’re a Trump revisionist, he didn’t “create” this economy. Like most things he has, Trump inherited a great economy. Unlike the fortune he claims he built but was inherited from his father, he inherited the economy from Barack Obama.
And, when Trump is throwing children into cages, he’s not locking up MS-13 gang members. In 2018, Trump said unaccompanied minors “look so innocent but aren’t in reality.” His acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Mark Morgan, once told Fox News that he can tell which unaccompanied minors will become gang members by looking into their eyes. He told Tucker Carlson, “I’ve looked into their eyes and said, ‘that is a soon-to-be MS-13 gang member.'” Apparently, Mark Morgan got the job after Miss Cleo turned it down.
While MS-13 is horrible and violent and everything you should hate, they’re not invading the country or posing as fake families. MS-13 was created in the United States and it recruits within the U.S. They don’t import. They’re not even that large of an organization. According to the Justice Department, the gang only accounts for 10,000 of the 1.4 million gang members nationwide. They’re not growing as they had the same number of members a decade ago. They average about 35 murders a year nationwide, which is fewer than murders committed by gangs you never heard of, and possibly fewer than those committed by Trump supporters. If Trump wants to focus on gang activity, he should direct his agencies to combat all of it, not just focus on the one that’s meat for his racist base.
When you think about it, when someone kills minorities in this nation while echoing Trump’s racist rhetoric, that makes Trump a recruiter of terrorists. Donald Trump is more dangerous to American communities than MS-13.
Ratcliffe has never arrested a terrorist in his life. Neither has Donald Trump. Instead, Trump is throwing kids in cages.
Support the cartoonist
As I noted in a previous cartoon, these are perilous times for political cartoonists. But you can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print).I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.
Donald Trump is using the citizenship question on the census and ICE raids to feed his shrinking political base. It’s another example of his not being president for all the people and using government resources for political means.
Trump caved on adding the citizenship question to the census after being knocked down by the Supreme Court, and another federal judge telling him he couldn’t change his legal team. Analysts were shocked that Trump caved, but he’s caved on multiple occasions, like during the government shutdown when he negotiated a deal where he got nothing.
Trump is now ordering other government agencies to compile citizenship data from existing federal records and to provide those results to the census. This won’t actually work, but it will give the perception to his base that he’s doing something about people who don’t look like them. This is a base that believes he’s actually building the wall and that Mexico will ultimately pay for it.
Trump and Republicans want to use the census for states to draw state, local, and congressional districts on the voting-eligible population. This will make an electorate that is more white and less diverse than the nation at large, whose majority is rejecting Republican policies. Republicans can’t win honestly anymore, so they’ll cheat and change the rules any way they can.
In selling this discrimination scheme, Republicans are lying. Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed the citizenship question was asked until 2010, which is a lie. It hasn’t been a standard question since the 1950 census. Many of the Trump cult claim Obama removed it from the census, which of course is another lie unless, somehow he had it removed before the 1960 census shortly before his birth in Kenya in 1961. He was a busy baby.
The other detail is, the census has ALWAYS counted noncitizens starting with the first census in 1790. Congressional districts have always included noncitizens, even if those citizens were only recognized as 3/5ths of a person. This was a huge point of contention for non-slave states as it increased representation in southern states, and diminished theirs. Conservatives have always cheated to win elections and control the government. And yeah, as dumb as it sounds, slaves had congressional representation, even if they couldn’t vote and all their representatives wanted to keep them as slaves. I shouldn’t be giving Republicans any ideas.
Trump announced ICE raids in June, then postponed them. Now, he’s announced they’ll happen this Sunday, with ICE expected to pursue at least 2,000 immigrants.
In the past, Trump criticized the mayor of Oakland for announcing upcoming raids, calling her actions a “disgrace.” The acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director at the time, Thomas Homan, said the mayor’s comments were “no better than a gang lookout yelling, ‘police!’ when a cruiser comes in the neighborhood.” A Republican congressman from Iowa proposed criminal penalties for officials who make similar disclosures. But, it’s OK when Trump or other Republicans do it.
Nobody would resist ICE raids if they were going after real criminals and not people whose only crime was crossing the border. What Trump is doing is ordering ICE to separate more families. Even families that aren’t targeted are under severe stress from this. This disrupts their work, school, and entire lives. That’s OK though because it makes a rabid base frothing at the mouth feel squishy inside.
This is just Trump being mean and hateful which is exactly what his base loves. They love child separation. They love discrimination. “Make America hate again” should be on the hat.
Hopefully, the red meat Trump tosses to his hateful base is the same as Trump steaks, non-existent and a total lie.
Be Complicit
What kind of person would want to be part of something that disparages, slanders, and disrespects Dear Leader and his sycophantic followers? Hopefully, you.
Making a contribution supports my work and keeps the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. My income is from newspapers that subscribe to my work and small contributors. George Soros hasn’t sent me a million dollar check in weeks. Making a contribution of any amount, or buying a print for $40.00, makes you part of this specific resistance, and a member of Team Claytoonz (we’re still working on the name). You are complicit, an accomplice, and in cahoots (and whatever gangster terms we can think of) with this political satire pointing out that the stupid emperor has no clothes. Contributions can be made through PayPal, checks, and wads of cash exchanged in back alleys.
Whether you can help support, can’t, or just choose not to, please continue to enjoy and keep reading my work. Thank you!!!
Does Donald Trump really hate immigrants from south of our border, or is the racism just an easy way to rile up support from racist people in this nation? Does he really want a border wall to keep out brown people, or does he just want it to prove he keeps his promises and as a monument to himself? Maybe he envisions it named after him as a racist monument, much like that new racist monument stolen from Palestinians named Trump Heights.
I think all the above is true. He’s a racist, he’s using hate to build support from fellow stupid racists, he wants a racist monument named after him, and he really wants to deport as many brown people as possible. He is the man who complained about people coming here from “shithole countries.” Then, he screamed about building a wall between the United States and Haiti.
Monday, Trump sent out a stupid racist tweet stating, “Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in.” How can they be removed as “fast as they come in” if they’re going to remove “millions?” Last February saw an 11-year high for unauthorized entry into the United States at 76,000. If you are a Republican, that is not a million. So, if millions are to be deported, it’s not “as fast as they come in.”
For ICE, good luck catching all those immigrants after Trump sent out that warning. But, they probably can’t round up a “million” anyway. From the agency’s own data, ICE is averaging 7,000 deportations a month from the interior of the United States (if you’re a Republican, “interior” means from the inside, not coming in at the border). Trump’s policies haven’t deterred immigrants from coming to the U.S., it’s encouraged them. Illegal entry is at an all-time high. ICE is facing a shortage of funds and detention beds, so a large-scale push to arrest and deport “millions” of migrants would be exorbitantly expensive and highly unlikely. But, that’s not really important when you’re making that claim for political purposes.
Trump claims the border wall is being built. It’s not. Regardless of facts, his cult believes him. So, he can lie about millions being deported just like he lied about caravans. His supporters will believe him. Hell, he can even claim he’s going to ship them all to the Dominican Republic. It’s not like Sarah Huckabee Sanders is going to be around to hold a press briefing and tell us the truth….or be around to not tell us the truth…or hold a press briefing. Is anyone going to notice she’s gone?
With the latest news coming out about the Carribean nation (if you’re a Republican, I mean the Dominican Republic), the Trump cult would love the idea of sending Central American immigrants there. Nine American tourists have died in various hotels in the Dominican Republic this year. In addition, retired Red Sox star David “Big Papi” Ortiz was recently shot in the capital, Santo Domingo.
With tourism crucial to the nation, authorities are quick to point out that over 600,000 tourists visited their nation within the first two months of 2019, with 65 percent of that being from the U.S. So, their new slogan is, “Come to the Dominican Republic where you probably won’t die.”
And, if you come to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic, or south of the border, you probably won’t be deported immediately, but you will be demonized by an orange, screaming, racist manbaby.
Totally unrelated note: A huge Great White Shark was spotted off the coast of New Jersey this week eating bait off a boat. So that state’s new tourism slogan is, “Come to New Jersey where you probably won’t be eaten, but you’ll still be in New Jersey.” That’s for Amanda, who has been in New Jersey all week and is leaving today…when I just gave her the information about the shark. I’m useful like that.
Be Complicit
What kind of person would want to be part of something that disparages, slanders, and disrespects Dear Leader and his sycophantic followers? Hopefully, you.
Making a contribution supports my work and keeps the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. My income is from newspapers that subscribe to my work and small contributors. George Soros hasn’t sent me a million dollar check in weeks. Making a contribution of any amount, or buying a print for $40.00, makes you part of this specific resistance, and a member of Team Claytoonz (we’re still working on the name). You are complicit, an accomplice, and in cahoots (and whatever gangster terms we can think of) with this political satire pointing out that the stupid emperor has no clothes. Contributions can be made through PayPal, checks, and wads of cash exchanged in back alleys.
Whether you can help support, can’t, or just choose not to, please continue to enjoy and keep reading my work. Thank you!!!
I don’t want to deal you a total shocker, but the Trump administration doesn’t care about you. Donald Trump’s biggest concern is how he is perceived at doing the job he has no interest in doing. Most of Trump’s talk about the incoming hurricane is about how great he’s handled previous hurricanes.
Now, comes breaking news that the Trump administration has moved $10 million from FEMA to ICE to pay for immigrant detention and deportation. It’s not just ICE where they’re playing this shell game to incarcerate brown babies. They have shifted $200 million from other agencies for incarceration and deportation. Trump hates immigrants so much, that ICE has blown its budget. It’s an asshole agenda.
What became of the claim that conservatives are fiscally responsible? Oh, yeah! That claim has been around forever, it just hasn’t been factual. But, hey. There’s no better time to defund FEMA right before hurricane season. This is the sort of decision brought to you by the same people who thought Trump deodorant would be a big seller. Because everybody wants to smell like Donald Trump. Now, you too can smell like an old racist who’s been in bed all day with cheeseburgers.
FEMA claims none of the money came from their response unit, but that’s actually a lie. Brock Long, the head of FEMA, says there’s “no story here.” But, keep in mind, he is a Trump appointee.
If you’re a Trump supporter and hurricane survivor this year, take comfort that you’ve sacrificed your community to throw more brown babies in jail. Actually, you probably will.
Your support in the form of donations is appreciated. I am fully independent as I’m not employed by a newspaper or with a major syndicate (leaving one to be independent). It does take a lot of work to provide you with cartoons, columns, and videos almost every day (more than any other political cartoonist), and I don’t charge my clients much at all. If you can, please consider making a financial contribution to keep the fun flowing, or purchase a signed print for $40. Whether you can help support, can’t, or just choose not to, please continue to enjoy and keep reading my work. Thank you!!!
Donald Trump’s Zero-Tolerance policy of separating families and throwing children in detention centers has stirred a sentiment among many Democrats and liberals to abolish ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Trump and Republicans have used immigration as a divisive wedge to rile up his base. He’s even accusing those who call to abolish ICE as wanting MS-13 gangs to run wild in the streets. Any rational person (which describes fewer Republicans lately) knows that is preposterous. Just because you don’t want immigrants unjustly punished and families ripped apart doesn’t mean you want open borders or gangs killing Americans. But yelling and screaming about MS-13 has become the latest racist wolf whistle for Republicans.
I have been undecided about abolishing ICE, but now I’m starting to think we don’t need the agency. While ICE isn’t responsible for separating families at the border, it has become an abusive and needless program. It’s also interesting that for once, Republicans are the ones against decreasing the size of government.
ICE has only existed for 15 years. It spends over $2 billion a year on detention out of an annual budget that’s over $7 billion. Private contractors have been benefiting from detention centers, which gives them a huge financial incentive to holding immigrants indefinitely as if they’re al-Qaeda members in Guantanamo. There have been 1,448 allegations of sexual abuse between 2012 and March 2018 in ICE detention centers.
ICE’s job is to round-up illegal immigrants. They don’t patrol the border. That job is for Border Patrol, which can technically operate within 100 miles of the border. Since two-thirds of Americans live within 100 miles of the border, that makes ICE redundant.
Republicans argue we need ICE to catch violent criminals. But, we already have the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, the DEA, the ATF, your local police department, Neighborhood Watch, John Walsh, McGruff the Crime Dog, and your nosy neighbor who calls the cops every time she sees a brown person at the public pool. Now, at least 19 ICE agents want their own agency dissolved, believing the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal migrants has limited their ability to pursue national security threats, child pornography, and transnational crime.
We need secure borders. We need to arrest violent criminals, whether they were born south of the border or in the United States. But we don’t need to harass and separate families just for seeking a better life for their children, attempting to escape violence in their home country, or even seeking asylum (which is legal). We don’t need to use the issue as a racist wolf whistle. And, we don’t need to hold brown babies and children hostage to fund a wall the president told us we wouldn’t have to pay for.
The greatest threat facing this nation does not come from immigrants. That distinction belongs to the current occupant of the Oval Office.
ICE is very much like the Vanilla Ice song, “Ice, Ice, Baby” (which was ripped off from Queen). It’s redundant, pointless, useless, and should be banished and never seen or heard again. Sorry if I put it in your head today.
Watch me draw.
Thank you for your support. Reader contributions really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and the First Amendment, and independent journalism while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!
Americans love to say America is the greatest country in the world. The new doctrine for our foreign policy is “We’re America, bitch.” But, I’m pretty sure the greatest country in the world wouldn’t separate children from their parents and imprison them in tents in the desert. Maybe there was some confusion, and they were supposed to be in tent prisons with dessert. Spelling is a challenge for this White House.
Obviously inspired by the recently pardoned Joe Arpaio (the racist law-breaking criminal sheriff in Arizona), the Trump administration is looking to place 1,000-5,000 immigrant children in tent cities in the desert. The number of migrant children the government has apprehended has increased by 20% since a “zero-tolerance” policy was initiated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen (who doesn’t know Norway is mostly white but knows a brown kid when she sees one). The new policy ordered the Border Patrol to refer anyone crossing the border illegally for criminal prosecution, no matter the situation. Some people being incarcerated haven’t crossed illegally, as they went to the Border Patrol and requested asylum, which we don’t grant anymore for people whose lives are threatened by gangs or spousal abuse.
The number of children currently held by the government is over 11,200 at some 100 facilities (with Trump murals and re-education classes) to hold them are around 95% full. One solution would be to stop separating children from their parents and throwing them all in jail, which sounds a little better than throwing toddlers to cacti and rattlesnakes. But, maybe the Trump murals will ward off the snakes and Gila Monsters.
Sessions justified this abuse of government policy by quoting the Bible. He cited Romans 13 when he said, “to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes.” Funny thing. That’s the same verse used by Southerners to justify owning slaves in the 1800s. Scary thing: Sessions probably knows that.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a church goer as well. During a White House press briefing Thursday, Sanders was insulting members of the press (they really hate Jim Acosta) and using the Bible defense. She said, “I can say that it is very biblical to enforce the law. That is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible. It’s a moral policy to follow and enforce the law.”
I haven’t seen a government use religion to justify policy this much since the Taliban.
There are probably a lot of quotes from the Bible that can be used to defend this administration.
There’s, “Thou shall not grab strange vaginas, unless thou is famous.”
And then there’s, “Thou shall not boast about grabbing strange vaginas to a reality TV host on a bus unless it’s just locker room talk.”
Plus, “Do not shag a porn star unless she’s willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement.”
I think this one was added yesterday: “Thou shall not salute a North Korean General unless his large hat is really spiffy.”
I’m gonna let you in on a secret. I made those up. But, here’s one that’s genuine: From Deuteronomy 10:18-19, “God loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.”
But, maybe I’m doing it wrong, and we’re only supposed to quote Old Testament God and not Hippy God.
Watch me draw.
Thank you for your support. Reader contributions really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and the First Amendment, and independent journalism while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!
The United States government has been separating immigrant children from their parents in Trump’s New World Order of Chaos and Uncaring. Just in case that’s not heartless enough, they’ve also lost track of nearly 1,500 children who crossed the border alone (that is, unaccompanied by adults).
Christian conservatives are outraged. They’re demanding answers, justice, compassion, and they’re about to storm the White House and Congress until this situation is explained and rectified.
Nah, just kidding. We’re talking about actual children here and not 1,500 fetuses.
The Department of Health and Human Services place unaccompanied minors with sponsors and from there; they throw their arms in the air and say, “not our problem anymore.”
From The Washington Post, “From October to December 2017, HHS called 7,635 children the agency had placed with sponsors, and found 6,075 of the children were still living with their sponsors, 28 had run away, five had been deported and 52 were living with someone else. The rest was missing.” HHS argues that they’re not their responsibility after being placed with sponsors.”
It’s not just about legal responsibility, but humanity and compassion. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio pointed out those federal officials handed eight children over to human traffickers who put them to work on an egg farm in Ohio. If immigrant children could actually lay eggs, there’d probably be a lot more handed over for trafficking.
Earlier in the month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department will begin prosecuting everyone who crosses the southern border illegally, even if they’re seeking asylum. So, if you’re entering the United States illegally, take my advice and do it on an airplane and do it while being white. Most people who enter this nation illegally don’t enter through our border with Mexico. Most enter legally, through the air, and overstay their visas.
Other facts: Only about three percent of immigrants here illegally have been convicted of felonies or serious misdemeanors. Most have been here over a decade. More than 30% own homes. They don’t collect welfare. They pay taxes. The majority of people here who have overstayed their visas are from Canada.
This brings us to the stupid, racist border wall Trump has proposed. He is blaming Democrats for the missing children. He claims he’s for a pathway to citizenship for children who were brought here illegally, but only if he gets his wall. But, the wall won’t stop airplanes. The wall won’t stop someone from overstaying their visa. The wall won’t stop ladders. The wall is a racist prop.
Trump’s daughter and adviser (which is a ridiculous sentence I have to write), Ivanka, posted a pic on social media snuggling her son. Awwww. Critics quickly criticized her attempt at posing as the perfect family while there are children being ripped apart from their parents. But, in Ivanka’s defense, she’s rich and white. Plus, if it makes you feel better, in her pursuit of children issues, she was just awarded several new trademarks in China where little tiny fingers will now be making her designer handbags. I knew you’d feel better.
The new normal is being heartless, uncompassionate, uncaring, and just not giving a rat’s ass unless it’s you or one of your rich cohorts. And if you’re a middle-class or poor white person who is really enjoying the treatment of people with a darker skin tone than yours, don’t celebrate too much. Because Trump doesn’t really care about you either.
Watch me draw.
Thank you for your support. Reader contributions, small and large, really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and the First Amendment, and independent journalism while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!
Here’s a little civics primer for you: The Constitution of the United States requires the enumeration of people in the U.S. every 10 years for the purpose of apportioning congressional representatives. It also requires that representatives be apportioned among the states “according to their respective Numbers.” Federal law requires the Secretary of Commerce to count the “population,” not citizens.
The Constitution says “persons,” not citizens or green card holders. I understand this may be difficult to comprehend for those who have only read the 2nd Amendment (and interpret it to suit their means as well), but the Constitution requires Congressional representation of people, not just citizens or voters. Children are people, and they don’t vote, yet they have Congressional representation.
The Trump administration wants a citizenship question included in the census. This is an attempt to under-count blue states, specifically California. The administration claims the question is required to enforce the Voting Rights Act, but nobody is buying it.
You may have forgotten since it’s been eight years since you’ve seen a census, but you fill it out anonymously. It’s not a voter registration. Republicans claim the citizenship question is a fight against immigrants voting illegally (which is not a widespread problem), but that’s a stupid argument. Another argument is they’re trying to determine who makes up the population where they claim there are abuses at the polls. That means check the box that you’re not a citizen so Jeff Sessions will know where to send more ICE agents.
The census is supposed to be confidential, but the Trump administration is trying to use it to scare immigrants from answering. This won’t just affect Congressional representation, but also how federal tax money and services are distributed. It will also affect the electoral college, as those votes are based on Congressional seats. Donald Trump won the Electoral College while losing the popular vote, which is also how Republican George W. Bush won in 2000.
Since the census is anonymous and Federal law states it can’t be used to punish people, does that mean we can trust Trump and his Justice Department? Sure, if you want to believe a man who promised to make a deal on DACA before reneging, and is now complaining that Democrats won’t give him money for his stupid border wall after spending two years telling us Mexico would pay for it (and is now trying to steal the money for it from the military’s budget).
It’s funny how Republicans complain about illegal votes while using several methods to suppress minority voting, from gerrymandering to voter ID laws to even closing DMVs in rural areas with black populations in Southern states.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders claims the citizenship question has been used for every census over the past several decades except for the last one. That’s a lie. It has not been used in a national census since 1950. Over a dozen states, including California and New York, are now suing the Trump administration to block this measure.
Trump has been targeting immigrants since day one of his administration, and hating minorities also warm the cockles of Jeff Sessions’ heart. California and the administration have been at war since he took office. The state has sued or joined other states’ legal actions against Trump at least 31 times. The suits have been over immigration, including deportation threats to “Dreamers” and building the border wall, Obamacare, greenhouse gas emissions, coal production, clean water, and so on.
Donald Trump is a cheater and a liar. He can’t be trusted. He’s not just using the federal government to go after brown people, but to throw red meat to his racist base. When California, New York, and other blue states take Trump to court, they’re defending America.
These lawsuits will continue until Trump is no longer in the White House. Let’s hope that’s sooner than later.
Here’s the video.
Please consider making a donation to keep the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. Reader contributions, small and large, really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and liberty while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!
During Donald Trump’s State of the Disunion address to Congress last week he unveiled a new plan to unleash tyranny on people who are not the right color. That is, those who are not the white color.
The new program is called VOICE, which is an acronym for Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement office, and not a singing game show featuring that guy high-pitched dude from Maroon 5. It was really hard to work out an acronym for “I Hate Brown People.” Its purpose is to go after undocumented immigrants who commit crimes. Number 45 said “I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American victims. We are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media, and silenced by special interests.”
Who he’s giving a voice to are racists and implementing a strategy to further build distrust and fear of immigrants. This despite the fact that immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than the general public and hard-line immigration policies don’t matter. It’s also a strategy to shame “sanctuary cities,” or anyone with compassion and empathy.
Trump signed another stupid executive order establishing this office. The Department of Homeland Security will be relocating department resources currently going to advocating for undocumented immigrants to punishing them.
During his speech Trump used human props which were three guests whose family members were allegedly killed by criminals living in the US illegally.
Bernie Sanders may have said it best with “The murder of anyone is a tragedy, and our hearts go out to all families who lose a loved one to violence. But let’s be clear about what Donald Trump is doing tonight in inviting family members who saw a loved one murdered by an undocumented immigrant. He is stirring up fear and hatred against immigrants and trying to divide our nation.”
Sanders also mentioned victims of hate crimes by non-immigrants and wondered why Trump didn’t mention them. He could create a special unit to go after white racists who commit violent acts. He can call the special unit Cracker Jacks. We can work out the acronym later.
I know the Nazi and Hitler comparisons are getting old, but so are policies that remind of Nazi policies that criminalized being Jewish. Yeah, they had those. It started with framing Jews as criminals and building mistrust and things just got worse from there.
Fearing the United States government cracking down on immigrants, Mexico has opened legal assistance, or immigration defense, centers at its 50 consulates in the United States. Don’t freak out but yes. Mexico has 50 consulates in our country. That nation has allocated $54 million and is hiring 320 workers to provide these services.
If you are a Mexican immigrant, or you know someone who is, visit Mexico Online for the locations, addresses, phone numbers and emails for the consulates.
Trump isn’t providing a “voice” to help people. But sanctuary cities and Mexico are willing to provide them a real voice.
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