Reimagining Immigration with Yael Schacher, Ph.D., Refugees International Director for the Americas and Europe

Big Thanks to Yael Schacher for these very full and fruitful 30 minutes! We covered a lot in very little time, including:* The real reasons why Trump & Co are targeting refugees for third-country expulsions.* How third-country expulsions undermine the modern Refugee Resettlement Program, while contributing to ethnic-cleansing in the so-called Land of Immigrants.* Why we need to rebuild from scratch — rather than attempt to reform — the kind of refugee protection system we wish to see in relation to immigration more broadly, both at home and abroad.* And what Democrats can and should be focusing on to win back control of Congress this November, for the good of all humanity.Yael elucidates how Trump & Co have repurposed money heretofore allocated for use by the US State Department to provide humanitarian aid in support of refugees overseas to spearhead a program of “reverse migration” instead, which I had not thought of before. Not only does this lead to chain refoulement, an international crime causing great misery and harm, but as Yael points out, this foreign policy shift undermines post-WWII human rights commitments as well as transnational collaboration and solidarity, which Yael contends is deliberate. It has unleashed an “every country for itself” paradigm that prioritizes self-interest and corruption over the needs of people. It is, furthermore, driving democracies worldwide into crisis as it promotes collaboration with the worst of the world’s worst autocratic leaders.We discuss, too, how the post-9/11 global obsession with “security” enabled the trend toward dehumanizing and criminalizing Black and Brown people on the move, resulting in a cruelty-for-cruelty’s-sake system that has been weaponized by Trump. And how he and his acolytes are motivated, fundamentally, by a belief that refugees aren’t really a thing; that no one on earth deserves protection — unless, of course, you’re a White Afrikaner. In other words, for power brokers fomenting endless wars and in denial about fossil-fuel-created climate change — the primary causes of human displacement and mass migration — real refugees are “fake news." Fake refugees, meanwhile, are accepted as long as they hew to an ideological belief in white supremacy.“It’s not subtle,” states Yael. In contrast to their first tour through the White House, “they are now saying the quiet part out loud.” We have no choice but to listen to their words and to take their aims seriously. Especially when the US Senate just approved more money for ICE! Another $70 billion of our taxpayer dollars for an agency turned paramilitary army gone rogue and shielded from accountability. Yikes! Yael’s analysis is a Call to Action to Democratic leadership, candidates, and voters alike to stop appeasing the right to court the middle, because there is no middle anymore. There is only MAGA, aka right-wing extremism, aka fascist authoritarianism. With so much at stake, what should Democratic talking points be heading into the November midterms?Listen to my conversation with Yael to find out. Her prescriptions include developing “paths to permanency,” bringing the definition of asylum into the modern world, and pressure-testing political assumptions on immigration with the public and with asylum-seekers themselves, once these dark days are behind us. But first, we need a new Democratic Congress willing to “grow some balls” (my words) and save government by the people for the people, not safeguard government by the bullies for the billionaires.Thank you again, Yael! It was a wonderful conversation. We hope you agree, and look forward to your thoughts in the comments below. Please also heart and restack the post for the benefit of your friends and followers. I’ll be back next week with another 30-minute conversation on Reimagining Immigration. In the meantime, stay strong, everyone. Find your allies and keep them close. The only way through this is . . . together.✊🏼 SarahTales of Humanity is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the work you find here, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.Thanks, too, to all y’all who tuned into my live conversation with Yael!Join me for my next live video in the Substack app. Get full access to Tales of Humanity at sarahtowle.substack.com/subscribe