They will be coming for us too by Barry Rosenbaum

Most of us have read or heard the poem written by Pastor Martin Niemöller in 1946, First They Came:

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.

I’ve been familiar with this poem for a long time. It is haunting in its implications, but I have always taken some comfort in the belief that such atrocities happened either long ago or somewhere else. I now know that perspective to be seriously misguided. It is happening right here, right now, in this country that millions upon millions of people — including my ancestors — came to, seeking refuge from tyranny occurring elsewhere in the world.

America was the safe haven, the beacon of liberty. No more. Now, if you have brown skin and work in the fields, or at a car wash, or seek employment near a Home Depot, or are simply taking your kids to school or going to church, you are a target.

They said they would only go after criminals. Clearly not. They said they were only going after those who were not American citizens. Clearly not. All with brown skin are fair game. If you are white, you may think to yourself, with some relief mixed with guilt, “I’m safe.” But we are all of the same humanity and should all decry what is happening to the Hispanic and Latino communities. It is contrary to the very founding documents of our country. It is immoral. No one can call themselves a person of faith and not condemn this treatment. But as despicable as it is, this saga will not end here. Far from it.

President Trump and his MAGA Republican senators and representatives have passed a budget that is stunning in its grotesqueness. The wanton destruction of the safety net that is vital to tens of millions of Americans is staggering. While not all of us will be directly impacted, our hearts should grieve, nevertheless. And for those who have the means, we should provide support to this community, too.

However, it is the expansion of the ICE budget that should strike fear in our hearts for what it portends. According to Axios:

• $46.5 billion will be used for border wall expenses.
• $45 billion will be used for single adult detention and family residential centers. Let’s call them what they are: concentration camps. Think of Alligator Alcatraz.
• $29.9 billion will be used for ICE officers, agents, investigators, support staff, and infrastructure modernization.
• $4.1 billion will be used for border personnel.
• $3.3 billion will be used for immigration court personnel.

These are absolutely staggering numbers. ICE will become the largest federal law enforcement agency in the country, with more than $100 billion being provided to it and border enforcement through September 2029. The current annual ICE budget is about $8 billion. This legislation gives MAGA a standing army – with a budget that is larger than the military budget of Italy and Israel, and just below Canada’s. Indeed, it surpasses the military budgets of all but fifteen countries.

ICE will be provided more cash than the Federal Bureau of Investigations; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Marshals Service; and the Bureau of Prisons combined.

So, after immigrants, or U.S. citizens “mistaken” as immigrants, who will be next — student protesters, the LGBTQIA community, other minority groups, women who exercise their right to choose, or naturalized citizens? And it won’t stop there.

The ultimate breadth of these targets can be discerned by simply recounting Trump’s perceived enemies of the state — political opponents, the media, law firms, political operatives, election officials, protesters, Supreme Court critics, prosecutors and bureaucrats, and judges.

I am white, but I am a Jew, part of a minority that has suffered persecution throughout history. I imagine that there are very few American Jews whose family tree doesn’t have branches that stop in the 1940s, with the name of each ancestor of that period and the cause of death — “The Holocaust.” As a group, Jews overwhelmingly supported Kamala Harris in 2024, a fact of which I am extremely proud. However, this statistic will not be lost on Trump.

So, what is one to do? My first reaction is simply to cry out in despair and start looking for hiding spots. Maybe it will come to that, but not now. Now, I’m going to continue my political work with the Grassroots Democrats HQ and continue to join the millions who are actively protesting to regain our democracy and our freedoms.

The next major National Day of Action — Good Trouble Lives On — is July 17th. As John Lewis taught us through a multitude of examples, there is always a place for good trouble, and that adage absolutely rings true now. We are living in a perilous time — witness multiple cities having to cancel or postpone Fourth of July celebrations out of fear of increased federal immigration raids in sanctuary communities. There couldn’t be a starker example of how far we have fallen as a nation.

This shameful period in our country’s history has already inflicted a stain on the fabric of our nation that will be extraordinarily difficult to remove. But strive to remove we must! This is not who we are or should be as a nation.