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Oh, yes, they WILL deport Americans

The Left Place
4 min readFeb 9, 2025

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Photo by Jean Carlo Emer on Unsplash

“Then they came for…”

Such is the refrain of Pastor Martin Niemoller’s icon Holocaust poem, “First They Came”.

Its theme, of course, is that eventually everyone becomes a target of a despotic regime intent on eliminating its perceived enemies. It starts with one marginalized group, but most assume they’re safe and ignore it. Then another group is targeted, and, again, most are relieved it isn't them and they just carry on with their lives. Another group is singled out. Another. And another. Until finally the regime comes for the rest, and no one is left to defend them.

History tells us it’s never just this or that group; once fascists identify a defenseless minority to persecute, more follow. There are always more defenseless minorities the strongman decides he must do without.

Remember those “MASS DEPORTATIONS NOW” signs people so proudly brandished at the Republican National Convention this summer?

Image credit: NBC News

They’re happening — but it isn’t just “illegals” being deported as it was initially sold to the xenophobes and bigots.

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The Left Place
The Left Place

Written by The Left Place

Ted Millar is a teacher, poet, and political writer for The Left Place. See also and subscribe to the Substack newsletter: https://theleftplace.substack.com/. t

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