Voices: I fear discrimination against my family will only get worse

I’ve lived in Utah almost all my life, growing up as a member of our state’s dominant race and religion. But our American family’s genetic heritage is international. My family of origin is from northern Europe; my husband’s grandfather came from Greece; a niece is Latina through her grandfather; another nephew and niece — through my sister’s former wife — are African-American; my children’s father has a Japanese-American father; my son’s wife and his children are Vietnamese-American. It’s a rich, colorful party when we’re all together.

In March, the Trump Administration’s defiance of a federal court ruling over the deportation of Venezuelan migrants rang alarm bells for anyone who believes in the constitutional right of all persons living in the U.S. to due process under the law. But the issue for me is not just civic concern over how this current administration is dealing with immigration and unconstitutional ICE tactics. This feels personal.

More recently, ICE has begun arresting more individuals of color, possibly in order to meet new enforcement quotas. In early June, when people in California protested against this policy, the National Guard and military were sent in to shut them down, calling the protestors “insurrectionists.”

With eight children and 19 grandkids in our blended family living mainly in Utah and a few western states, I do a lot of general worrying. My reaction to the news about federal troops sent to L.A. was different. It was visceral. Many of my family members could be identified physically as “non-white.” My loved ones are in the direct line of fire.

Venezuelans first became a target, then all Hispanics. Which persons of color are next? Palestinians? Blacks? Iranians? Asians? Anyone who looks like they might come from a country listed in the Trump White House proclamation banning entry to foreign nationals?

If one American is pushed around or “disappeared” because of what they look like, members of my family could very well be next.

My family members in California — who remain hesitant to discuss the discrimination they’ve experienced — have shared instances of fear- and hate-driven discrimination. And we’ve seen it unfold throughout generations. In 1942, Executive Order 9066 forced my children’s grandfather and his family from their homes to be imprisoned because they looked like the enemy. In 2020, Trump called COVID-19 “the Chinese virus.” To those who chose hate and fear, all Asians were the enemy. Members of my family tell me they endured everything from shouts of “Go back to China!” to threatening drivers to a physical assault by an angry patient in the hospital where my daughter worked.

In 2020, the president was prevented by cooler heads from calling out the National Guard to put down protests after George Floyd’s murder. Even with the rise of Black Lives Matter, my young Black nephew confided it’s been difficult to hail a cab or order an Uber.

The administration’s justification for their actions is that it’s an emergency situation requiring heightened security, that we have an “invasion” of migrants that need to be controlled and deported. That sounds familiar. As we’ve seen from world history and our own regretful past, those in power need us to believe that the enemy is among us, that the enemy is one who doesn’t look like us or think like us.

Mormon Women for Ethical Government’s January essay on presidential power to deploy the military inside the U.S. best describes the peril of the moment: “…Since limits remain undefined in the Insurrection Act, legal experts warn of the possibilities of abuse of presidential power and military dictatorship. If a commander in chief chooses to utilize the most powerful military in the world to control their citizens, individual freedoms are at risk …”

Perhaps more of us are paying attention because the issue is front and center. Perhaps the videos of aggressive ICE tactics and protests posted to social media are piercing public consciousness. Perhaps more Americans are seeing their own neighbors and community members targeted by the mass deportation push.

Recent polling shows an increasing percentage of Republicans who, although they favored mass deportations when they voted for Trump, now feel the administration has gone too far. Chasing workers — hard-working, tax-paying migrants — through strawberry fields and scooping up day laborers in front of Home Depot makes zero sense economically. It seems obvious to me that the goal is to meet a quota.

Perhaps the tide of public outrage is rising as we realize that if this happens to one of us, it can happen to any of us — to members of my family and perhaps members of yours, too. Anyone this administration deems an enemy can be arrested or “disappeared.”

You don’t have to be an undocumented immigrant to be a target. No one is entirely safe, not even those with power and standing. Just ask elected officials Alex Padilla, LaMonica McIver or Brad Lander.

Outrage is an appropriate response, but let’s keep our pushback focused and peaceful. Another lesson from history reminds us that if we respond to violence with violence, then invoking the Insurrection Act is just around the corner.

Sharon Ellsworth-Nielson is a retired educator and member of Mormon Women for Ethical Government.

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