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Seventy years ago, the U.S. Border Patrol announced that it had deported more than one million migrants during Operation Wetback, a derogatory term used for Mexicans. Will history repeat itself, albeit on a larger scale and involving more nationalities?
Millions of people are living in fear as they wait to know more about the aftermath Donald J Trump sworn in as the next President on January 20, 2025Ironically, 2025 will mark the 60th anniversary of the landmark Immigration and Nationality Act, which opened America’s doors to non-Europeans who were then deported from the US.
Nearly two weeks after Kamala Harris lost the election, I saw this shocking headline newsweek: “Nearly half of Los Angeles residents are considering leaving the US after Trump’s victory.” This was shocking because, unlike the internal negative reaction to Trump’s narrow victory in 2016, the public reaction among anti-MAGA citizens in 2024 has been surprisingly muted.
One-third of New Yorkers felt the same way as Angelenos, and the article also said that younger people were more eager to leave the country than older people. But whether they are young or old, how many Americans will act on this desire and move towards the exit? For various reasons, most of them will realize, if they haven’t already, that quitting is their dream. , , Well, a dream. It would be unrealistic to uproot oneself.
They are mainly expressing shock, disappointment and sadness over Trump’s re-election. Their desire to leave is their protest.
Wanting to flee is the opposite of wanting to fight. Still, those who think the opposition has resigned to Trump’s return to power may be surprised when ultranationalists and ultraloyalists act on his administration’s hardline policies. We will see what the resistance is like. Meanwhile, burnout has set in and those who have moved out are focusing on their families and holidays.
I’m also a resident who is fantasizing about leaving the US, if not actively planning to move. When I told a progressive Democrat that I wanted to go to India even though I was not yet an OCI (Overseas Citizen of India), he was horrified. “No – no . . . We need people like you here for the resistance!” He said. I didn’t have the courage to tell him that I was not the activist type. One should not take democracy lightly, especially now.
Another friend, a Californian and my former classmate in India, was not impressed when I told him of my desire. He told that with Narendra Modi and BJP still in power, the idea of living in our birthplace is not very attractive for them.
I understood what he said. Whether we live here or there, the beloved leaders of the respective nations will remain indispensable.
Last year in India, the closest I got to the Prime Minister was when I saw soldiers with guns drawn outside his residence. I could feel his presence everywhere, from television screens in living rooms and billboards on the streets to cardboard cutouts near national monuments. till. The Prime Minister was also visible on the Vande Bharat Express, where a film clip playing continuously on monitors showed him presiding over the inaugural departure of the famous train. Other passengers paid no attention to it, but I was mesmerized.
Cults, whether religious or political, are equally powerful in advanced industrialized countries. In America, as we await the inauguration of the 47th President, we must prepare ourselves for the sequel to what we endured during the 45th President’s time in office from January 2017 to January 2021. The sequel, not surprisingly, will be hard to stomach.
I realize I speak from a position of privilege. As a naturalized American citizen, I don’t have to deal with uncertainty and anxiety like my friend in California. Others are not so lucky, whether they are documented or not. People who crossed the US border without permission, or did not leave the country before their visas expired, are at risk, even if they have lived here for decades and are productive, tax-paying members of society .
Criminals have been singled out for immediate deportation, but that doesn’t mean law-abiding residents with visa problems won’t live in fear. The saddest thing is that once the new administration takes over, Dreamers, who are protected by DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), could be at risk, even though they were brought here as children. and had no role in their parents’ decisions. People who were granted asylum or TPS (Temporary Protected Status) may face a new reality. And birthright citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment could be abolished.
Even people with valid non-immigrant visas like H-1B and F-1 will be monitored. Indeed, many US universities have urged their international students to return to the country from their winter break before Trump’s inauguration.
Only once in all the years I’ve lived in America have I been asked to show my ID because of my appearance. This happened while I was on an F-1 student visa. Another Indian and I were sitting at the Greyhound station, waiting to board the bus that would take us to my university, when a police officer approached us. Our student ID satisfied the officer, who nodded and walked away without another word. Although I have a driver’s license now, I don’t want to take the risk. I intend to make a copy of my US passport and keep it in my wallet.
Is America not, as John F. Kennedy famously said, ‘a nation of immigrants’? According to Erica Lee, historian and author of the book America for Americans, it is, but it is also ‘a country of xenophobia.’
Lee says that “Just as racial progress and racist progress can happen at the same time, Americans’ embrace of immigrants and their fear and hatred of them co-exist as equally strong forces shaping the United States.” -Exists.”
I may find it practical to stay in the US for the next four years, but I realize that I will be living in a different country, one that has changed since the 2024 election.
(Murali Kamma is a managing editor and writer based in Atlanta, Georgia. Views are personal.)
