Letter to the Editor | PennLive News | FEB. 10, 2023
Between 1830 and 1850, 60,000 members of five tribes were forcibly removed from eastern states under presidential order to western states. This was called the Trail of Tears.
Nine Republican-led states, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Kansas, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Mississippi, have asked a federal judge to end the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program, which affects 600,000 people primarily of Mexican descent that were brought here as children illegally. This would offer them no path to citizenship, and apparently, they would have to be deported.
The motivation behind doing so is the same that motivated the Trail of Tears. This is all about white supremacy and getting rid of people of color.
It is as heartless as what motivated Andrew Jackson, for one, to engage in such actions. What is amazing is that it shows that not much has changed in two centuries in regard to the racism that still pervades a large segment of the population and which has become the Republican party.
To expel these 600,000 people, it will be paid for by taxpayers and be very disruptive to American lives, families, communities, and neighbors, who have known these people for decades. The logistics will be unbelievable.
Will these people be lodged in temporary camps?
What if Mexico refuses to take them?
And most importantly, has the Republican party become so insensitive and inhumane that it is willing to destroy the lives of 600,000 people for xenophobic and racist reasons? Has it become that depraved?
George Magakis, Jr., Norristown, Pa.
