Are we tolerating the policies of a modern-day Eichmann?

 We need to think very clearly about the policies and actions our government is carrying out with respect to “illegal immigration”. The Trump administration has waged a war of hate-based language and accusation against non-citizens in the United States, and has set the goal of achieving one million arrests and deportations annually. It has characterized the undocumented peoples currently living and working in the United States in the most dehumanizing and racist terms, specifically aiming to whip up fear, distrust, and hate against non-US-born people, mostly black and brown. Think of Trump’s language about the Somali communities of the midwest (“Garbage!”), Trump and Vance’s lies about Haitian refugees in Ohio (“they’re eating the pets!”), and blanket racism about people from Mexico and Central America (“criminals and rapists”).

The language and lies expressed here are entirely reminiscent of the anti-Semitism of the Nazi rise to power. They serve the purpose of dehumanizing this whole population of people, turning them into something “subhuman” and dangerous. It is racism, it is white supremacy, and it is fundamentally shameful and wrong. It is the language used by Nazi leaders like Eichmann in their efforts to rid Europe of non-Aryan peoples.

The language and lies are accompanied by practices, actions, and policies that are both extra-legal and fundamentally brutal and evil. The use of deadly force by ICE agents is too wide to be the work of the occasional “bad apple”; it is the systemic result of an armed government secret police force that does not recognize normal procedural protections for human life and welfare. Only in fascist states, Stalin’s regime, (and often enough, the Jim Crow South) were armed security services so unhampered by law and training from the exercise of brutality and violent death against “suspects”.

The goal of removing one million peaceful men, women, and children per year because of their national origin is nothing short of ethnic cleansing — the use of violent means to force masses of a population to leave a region or country. It was familiar in the Nazi era, it was common in the period of the breakup of Yugoslavia, and it is happening in the United States. It is fundamentally shameful for every one of us — whether we supported Donald Trump in 2024 or we did not. The actions now being taken by the US against millions of human beings is a mark of inhumanity that all of us are responsible for.

And what of the children? Since we all met five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos some months ago, we’ve known that the children of non-US-born parents are at grave risk. CNN posted a report today about unaccompanied children being forced to appear in immigration courts to plead against deportation (link).

In a Texas courtroom Monday, 25 migrant children lined the pews — a 6-year-old pretended to fly an airplane, a 3-year-old played with the mic, and a teen girl tried to make eye contact with a friend. The judge reminded everyone of what was at stake.

“I see you’re smiling and think these proceedings are funny, but I need you to pay attention,” the judge told the teen girl. “They could determine whether you remain in the country or are removed.”

Migrant children as young as 2 are showing up at immigration courts nationwide, many without attorneys, to make their case to stay in the US and avoid deportation.

It is heartbreaking to think of these children, alone, facing deportation to a country they often do not even remember, and to think of the inexpressible cruelty of a government that inflicts this pain and lifetime loss on children. Like the “family separation policy” of the first Trump administration (link), its purpose seems literally to impose pain on these children and their parents, as a deterrence to other people thinking of passing into the United States.

In 1940 Adolph Eichmann was tasked to develop a plan for deporting Europe’s Jews to Madagascar. Here is a description of Eichmann’s plan from Wikipedia:

Adolf Eichmann, the head of the RSHA Sub-Department IV-B4, which dealt with Jewish affairs and evacuation, soon became involved. On 15 August, he released a memorandum titled Reichssicherheitshauptamt: Madagaskar Projekt (Reich Security Main Office: Madagascar Project), calling for the resettlement of a million Jews per year for four years and abandoning the idea of retaining any Jews in Europe. The RSHA, he emphasised, would control all aspects of the program.[27] While Rademacher called for the colony to be under German control but self-governing under Jewish administration, Eichmann made it plain that he intended for the SS to control and oversee every aspect of life on the island, which they would govern as a police state.

Notice the brutality, scope, and SS control that are specified by Eichmann. Each of these is a feature of today’s campaign of arrest, detention, and deportation.

Here is an excerpt from Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem concerning the Madagascar plan (link).

Stephen Miller, as longstanding designer and advocate for the administration’s current plan for deporting one million men, women, and children per year, you will be remembered as sitting among the most appalling criminals against the innocent of our century.

Citizens demand impeachment

Every day that passes brings more bad news from Donald Trump’s unhinged behavior. His actions and dictatorial executive orders have caused immeasurable harm to our country, our citizens and residents, our friends and allies in the world community, and the standing of our country as a leader and a moral example.

Trump’s unprovoked war against Iran has caused thousands of deaths, erosion of the US military capability, and vast economic disruption to the world economy. His tariffs have increased the cost of living for Americans, and his government’s assault on Medicaid and government-assisted health insurance has forced millions of Americans into deep health insecurity. His completely unwarranted hostility and war of words and tariffs against Canada are examples of his reckless and impulsive behavior. His administration’s foolish and unscientific rejection of vaccinations, including measles vaccinations for children, has led to the largest measles outbreak the United States has seen in decades. Trump’s personal and brazen financial corruption and conflicts of interest have led to growth of his personal wealth of over $2 billion — perhaps as high as $4 billion — since his inauguration in 2025, and his family’s exploitation of their relationship to the White House is well-known as well. And Trump’s narcissistic insistence on remaking the face of our nation’s capital, his mismanagement and threats against the Kennedy Center, and his determination to proceed with a 250-foot-tall arch show a narcissistic and fundamental disregard for the traditions and values of our citizens.

Trump has failed to perform the duties of the presidency. He has sought to avoid or ignore legal orders by Federal courts. He has created a private army of violent thugs who have committed violence against innocent people in multiple cities. He has engaged in racist rants against Africans and people of African descent like the Somalis of Minneapolis and the Haitian refugees in Springfield, Ohio. He is morally unfit to be the leader of our country.

The Republican Congress has shown zero willingness to exercise its authority and to restrain the president’s actions. Fear of losing office in primary challenges appears to be more important to most incumbent Republicans than making a sober appraisal of this president’s usurpations of power, recklessness, and contempt for the institutions and norms of our democracy. And yet their most basic moral duty is to preserve our constitutional order.

Imagine an alternative political world in which we the people have taken the lead. Imagine a movement that begins with “letters of impeachment” signed by 50 million Americans, demanding impeachment and trial of Donald Trump. Imagine 50,000 people assembling every week in front of the Kennedy Center or the proposed site for Trump’s arch, peacefully resisting demolition and construction. Imagine pro-democracy demonstrations in our major cities, each involving 100,000 people in New York, Miami, St. Louis, Houston, Chicago, Seattle, Detroit, Boston, and occurring every week. Imagine every city standing up for its population against ICE in the way that Minneapolis did, forcing a retreat by Homeland Security.

And imagine an unprecedented turnout for the November election, leading to a majority in House and Senate for principled and courageous leaders like Jon Ossoff, Sherrod Brown, Joyce Beatty, and James Talarico. Majorities in Congress can provide some degree of braking capacity on Trump’s dictatorship in the final two years of his presidency.

Winning the midterms is crucial for our future as a democracy. But it is only a beginning. Reasserting the authority of Congress against a dictatorial president, finding new and unconventional ways of opposing Trump’s policies (like his assault on Canada or his threat to withdraw substantially from NATO or his determination to build a triumphal arch), and demanding accountability from cabinet officials (Blanche, Hegseth, Mullin, …) — these are the minimal steps that Democratic majorities must take. And facing the new crises that have arisen, and that Trump has waved aside (like the warnings about rogue AI technology) must be addressed. (Elizabeth Warren is ready to do this.)

And the rising economic disparities we have witnessed in our country since the 1970s must be addressed. Tax cuts for the super-rich that are paid for by reductions in Medicaid, food assistance, and other social programs are grotesque; the fact that our tech-oligarchs pay a tiny percentage of their income in taxes (3.4% according to ProPublica); the fact that corporations have many ways of avoiding revenue taxes altogether — all of these facts have contributed to the sudden transformation of the US distribution of wealth and income into an oligarch’s utopia.

A large majority of Americans now disapprove of Trump for his policies, and do not trust his promises or assurances about the future. The American public deserves better, and Trump has broken his Constitutional oath of office in numerous ways. Trump should be removed from office through impeachment, and successor administrations should learn the lesson: the Federal government exists to serve the interests of the American people within the strictures of the Constitution — not the private interests of the president and his loyal administration. And we are watching.