Fighting hate with compassion
As an immigrant it breaks my heart to see images of small children along the border who have been locked up in cages after being separated from their families. The pictures and sounds of thousands of children being snatched from their parents’ arms have touched millions of Americans.
A recent Quinnipiac poll tells us that most Americans believe President Trump's policy of ripping children from their parents at the border is horrible. What most Americans do not know is that this policy, the Muslim ban and the cancellation of DACA and so many others, originate with Senior Advisor to the President Stephen Miller. Miller is the unseen puppet master pulling Trump’s strings.
Also largely unknown is that Miller has a long history of association with people and organizations that advocate for white supremacy and hatred towards immigrants and Muslims.
During his years as a student at the university of Duke, Miller met the famous white supremacist Richard Spencer, who created the term alt-right and organized the white supremacists rally in Charlottesville, Va.
During his college days, Spencer and Miller organized a debate on immigration with white nationalist Peter Brimelow, founder of VDARE.com, a center for white and anti- Semitic nationalists who only support white migration into the United States.
The organizations behind Miller's anti- immigrant policies
Miller's anti-immigrant views resemble his association with two organizations: the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and the David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC) . Both organizations have been designated as hate groups by Southern Poverty Law Center. CIS demands strict restrictions on all forms of immigration, especially when dealing with minority groups. DHFC creates broad false claims against Muslims and endorses two magazines that spread anti-Muslim conspiracy theories.
The call to fire Stephen Miller
However, Miller's ideology has not been overlooked on either sides of the aisle, recently the Democrat Congresswoman from Washington State, Pramila Jayapal called on the White House to fire Miller, saying “I don’t think most Americans understand that a 33-year-old with connections to white supremacists is crafting policies that are going to literally destroy our country and what we stand for. Stephen Miller should be fired. He should not be in the White House.”
The Republican Congressman Mike Coffman of Colorado also tweeted about his frustration on the separation of families arguing that “the President should fire Stephen Miller now. This is a human rights mess. It is on the President to clean it up and fire the people responsible for making it.”
Fighting hate with compassion
It’s terrifying to know that someone so cruel is in charge of our immigration policies.
Thousands of people outraged by Miller have been moved to sign on to a petition to dismiss him from the White House titled “Stephen Miller must be fired for separating children from families” organized by America's Voice. According to the petition posted on MoveOn, it will be sent to President Trump once it reaches 100,000 signatures.
Our compassion should move us civically to send a clear message: We will not be silent in the face of white supremacy and anti-immigrant influences and we will reject policies that separate families. We will not let hate take over our country.