What kind of America do we want?

More News

“Families Belong Together” protest in Chicago
Photo/Adrian Garcia

 
Some Americans are asking: “Why are immigrants coming here?”
Some of us are unaware of the brutal role the US government has played in forcing families to flee their countries and embark on the perilous journey to the US. Those fleeing are often victims of decades of US-sponsored war, murder, torture, overthrow of their democratically elected governments and the US backed drug trade.
Smedley Butler, the highest ranking US Marine Corps major general at the time of his death in 1940, explained how the US military guarantees profits for the corporations: “I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”
“The people we are punishing are moms, kids, fathers, young teenagers, young men that are saying, ‘No, I won’t work with the cartels.’ They’re running for their lives says human rights lawyer and author Jennifer Harbury. She discusses the refugee crisis as blowback from U.S. dirty wars in Central America.
Branding undocumented families as terrorists and thieves of American jobs and putting children in cages is the attempt of our rulers to hide the true nature of a dying economic system. In fact, hundreds of thousands of families have been stripped of their jobs and homes. One fifth of American children live in poverty. Half a million kids suffer from lead poisoning each year. The billionaire class must direct the rising fear and anger at a scapegoat—lest it be directed at corporate America.
Underlying it all is the naked corporate takeover of America, many decades in the making.
It takes unity to stop a dictatorship. The powers that be are trying to pit the immigrants against the rest of the people. Significantly, Americans are beginning to stand up, about the children and about everything. Still, the threat of dictatorship remains real. Why? Our labor is no longer needed. The robot is doing more and more of the work. This is causing the huge growth of poverty. And it means those being discarded are a threat to the billionaires. If we are to have a whole new peaceful, prosperous and democratic society, we must have as our motto “all for each, and each for all.” We the people must fight together to stop deportations and separation of families—and for a new, just society for us all.

PT Logo collage
+ Articles by this author

The People’s Tribune opens its pages to voices of the movement for change. Our articles are written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Articles entitled “From the Editors” reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement for change. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff. The People’s Tribune is a 501C4 organization.

Featured

US Terrorizes Migrants and Countries, Witnesses Tell Mexico City Tribunal

A series of International Tribunal of Conscience hearings held over the last eight months in the US and Latin America have gathered testimony on US crimes against migrants and countries. The hearing this month in Mexico City featured around 40 witnesses from more than 16 countries.

The Kids Are Alright. Maybe the Rest of Us Need To Remember What Standing up Actually Looks Like

Youth in France and other countries are asking why they should accept a system that keeps telling them there isn't enough to go around while those at the top keep getting richer?

Police Shooting of 1-Year-Old Kohen Wiley ‘Was Justified,’ Mississippi Attorney General Says

Police fired into a car in a MIssissippi Walmart parking lot in June, killing baby Kohen Wiley. Mississippi's attorney general now says the shooting was "justified."

Homeless Shelters Were Once Off-Limits to ICE. Not Anymore

Los Angeles Is seeing a surge in Latino Homelessness, and a 2025 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Policy Change Means Shelters Are No Longer Safe from ICE.

ICE Has Arrested Twice As Many Children This Year

ICE arrested more than twice as many children this year through July as in the same period last year. Many of these children have been detained where lawyers and family members couldn’t find them.

More from the People's Tribune