They are vicious [View all]

[ElkeH]

I live in Texas and therefore it is to be expected that I have some acquaintances on social media, mostly people whom I also know in real life, who are conservative or even outright Trump worshipers.

They loved the news of Trump suspending the refugee programs and trying to bar visitors and immigrants from certain Muslim countries. I was saddened but not really surprised.

But what struck me most was their reaction to the possibility of even some greencard holders not being permitted back into the country. "If they love America, why aren't they citizens?" was one of many responses. "Non-citizens have no rights!" was another. Of course some even thought that resident alien screening under President Obama was a big joke compared to the Bush administration. "See if you can pass the test this time, haha!"

I felt sick to my stomach. I came here from Germany in the early 90s. I am an American citizen but I was a greencard holder for a while. Some people never even have a shot at a greencard in the first place. I was lucky enough that my step father is an American and wanted to sponsor me and my mother. But even with a greencard it always feels like you're "guilty until proven innocent," as if you had to prove that you were worthy of the status.

My memory of visiting the ICE office in San Antonio for the first time was that it felt more like an interrogation than anything else. The immigration officer did not just want samples of mail to show my parents lived at the same address, he even compared their house keys to make sure they were the same. He was even surprised that my mother and I were relatively fluent in English. I had already been studying for years.

This was during the Bush Sr administration, where anti-immigrant sentiment wasn't anywhere near as strong as now. Nevertheless my father sometimes became angry because he felt like we were treated as second-class citizens by ICE for not having been born here. But my mother and I always told him that the troubles were worth it. Germany was and is a great place, but we were very happy to be here instead and we counted ourselves as Americans.

The same goes for countless greencard holders from Muslim countries, as well as for people who do not have permanent resident alien status yet but hope to get it some day. Yet Trump supporters think people are worth less if they did not have the luck, because where you are born is nothing but a matter of chance, to have been born in the US. Some even think being a greencard holder means you don't love America enough to become a citizen, because the idiots do not realize that you have to have a greencard for a certain number of years before you can even apply for citizenship.

I bring this up to again remind people that Trump is not acting on his own. There is a disturbing number of people all across the country supporting his efforts and they are vicious.