Let’s Stop Dehumanizing Immigrants!

an Opinion by a Nikkei Progressives member

“‘They’re eating the dogs… They’re eating the cats’.

Millions of Americans heard the former president on stage during the last presidential debate. Amidst fact-checks, social ridicule and even mockery, Trump and his followers have remained loyal to completely baseless, discriminatory claims against Haitian community members and migrants within the United States.

His dehumanizing words have ignited threats of violence against the Haitian community. In fact, Ohioans in Springfield have had to cancel their annual celebration of diversity due to threats of violence against schools and government buildings. Parents have been hesitant to send their children to school because of the lies spread by the Trump-Vance campaign. 

The Trump campaign has blamed immigrants for the nation's problems, and Senator Vance, in his debate with Gov. Walz, continued to pile on the blame.  Threats of mass deportation and accusations that immigrants are running our country to the ground – when in fact, they have become the backbone of our economy – are attempts to demonize humans who are only trying to pursue the American Dream we all work toward.

As a young viewer who has only ever grown up in such a volatile political climate, and as a daughter of an immigrant, I look up to older generations, and wonder, will our country continue moving backward, or can we move forward and become the country of progression, justice and equity that we claim to be? 

Throughout history, racist, dehumanizing rhetoric by political leaders has helped justify violence, discrimination, and inhumane treatment toward minority groups. For example, the eugenics movement which was supported and funded by academic institutions and the government deemed certain populations unfit to procreate, justifying the forced sterilization of poor, mainly Black and Native American women.

In our past, Asian Americans have been portrayed as dog-eating savages, while more recently, Latinex immigrants are vilified as drug dealers and human trafficking rapists by the former president. Muslim Americans are seen as possible terrorists and now Haitians are being accused of eating pets. All this serves to create division and justify attacks and discrimination against hard working immigrant groups in our nation. 

As an 18 year old who has been unable to vote in past elections, and has felt the effects of Republican efforts to silence LGBTQ+, people of color, and immigrant voices, I recognize the importance of grassroots efforts to combat past and threatened executive orders and anti-immigrant legislation.  I encourage you to read Lady Justice by Dahlia Lithwick to see the extent the former president has weaponized our federal government against migrants, people of color, and religious minorities.

My participation in Nikkei Progressives has brought a new light in my ability to advocate for the rights of not just my community members, but for human beings in our global community. 

Within NP’s immigration committee, I have had the privilege to participate in lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill to shut down the toxic Adelanto Detention Center, meet people with first-hand accounts within these toxic detention centers and support NP from a distance (living in DC, and now in Portland) in order to continue the important work we do. 

We do not have to repeat history. My peers and I should not have to fear the government taking their family away because they “look like aliens”. My peers and I should not fear walking out into our communities in fear of hate crimes based on our appearance. In my eyes, Nikkei Progressives, and other movements are at the front line of changing toxic, anti-immigrant narratives that have fueled the hatred our nation has harbored against minority groups for centuries.

It is imperative that we, both young and old, continue to stay educated, speak out, spread the word, and stand strong. Please urge everyone around you, both young and old to vote, to not only uphold our democracy, but to protect a nation that was supposed to have been built for the people, all people. 

Meili Britton is a freshman at Reed College and joined Nikkei Progressives’ immigrant support committee as a high school senior, participating from the Washington D.C. area by Zoom."