Undocumented Americans

[Wanderfound]

@Wanderfound

As always: this didn’t begin with Trump, and it wasn’t just the Republicans.

Intercepted Podcast: One Wall, Supersized, Extra Racism, Hold the Wars

Greg Grandin interview begins at 33:30.

S: But to go into the real world here explain how you see this particular moment that we’re in with this shutdown and the so-called battle over the border.

GG: I see it as a long climax of what I call the bordification of national politics or the nationalization of border brutalism. Just the way that the violence, and xenophobia, nativism that has long been marginalized or concentrated on the border has become nationalized. Trump is the outcome of decades and decades of policy and he’s not wrong when he blames the Democrats. The Democrats have bought into a security first framework going back to at least Bill Clinton, but you can even make the case to Jimmy Carter, that has led to this current moment.

Bill Clinton: Not only in the states most heavily affected but in every place in this country people are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public services they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That’s why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens.