#fear of migrants

[spiderlegsmusic]

The republicans insistence that hundreds of thousands of rapists and murderers are flooding into the country over our southern border is such a huge stupid lie. We get accused of fear mongering when we talk about the REAL threat of Project 2025—they are fear mongering about this fake “migrant crime wave,” which if you look at the statistics, crime committed by migrants is even lower than crime committed by white people. Republicans are so desperate for a cause they can rally around, they don’t care how bogus it is. They make shit up and then fear monger the fuck out of it.

If the republicans really worried about immigration, they’d have passed the immigration bill that a Republican co-wrote. But they didn’t. Not because they disagreed with it, but so they’d have an issue to bitch about in months ahead of the election. That was trump’s decree. The big orange lying liar who lies said “don’t pass that bill, democrats will get credit for it. Don’t pass it and we’ll say they’re soft on immigration.” Except, hey dumbass, we all know you told your cult not to pass the immigration bill one of them wrote. We know you want immigration as an election year issue. Well, that certainly backfired. You guys suck. A dummy leading a bunch of even dumber dummies. The GQP. The Repugnicunt Party.

We fear monger too. But at least our fear mongering subject is documented in 900+ pages on its own web site which will come true if Trump somehow gets elected. I have nothing against VP Harris, I hope she can beat Trump. The racists, dummies, and wealthy people will vote for Trump—but how many people is that? I still maintain that if every woman registered to vote shows up to vote, it won’t be close. And republicans can make up a bunch of bullshit for the next election, assuming they’ll behave this time and not attack the capitol or start shooting people like they really want to do. Crazy people get to vote. Cult members get to vote, please wonderful women! Show up on Election Day or early vote, either way.

[joe-england]

Jon Stewart Unpacks the GOP's "Migrant Crime" Narrative | The Daily Show

[ausetkmt]

Each year thousands of migrants make the journey from Western Africa to the Canary Islands

More than 30 migrants may have drowned after their boat sank in the Atlantic Ocean off the Canary Islands, two charities have said.

Walking Borders and Alarm Phone said the boat was carrying around 60 people.

Spanish authorities said rescue workers found the bodies of a minor and a man, and rescued 24 other people - but did not know how many people were onboard.

The incident places fresh scrutiny on Europe's response to migration, after a boat sank off Greece last week.

Helena Maleno Garzon, from Walking Borders, said that 39 people had drowned, including four women and a baby, while Alarm Phone said 35 people were missing. Both organisations monitor migrant boats and receive calls from people on board or their relatives.

The boat sank about 100 miles (160km) south-east of Gran Canaria on Wednesday.

"It's torture to have 60 people, including six women and a baby, waiting for more than 12 hours for a rescue in a flimsy inflatable boat that can sink," Ms Garzon said.

A Spanish rescue service ship, the Guardamar Caliope, was only about an hour's sail from the dinghy on Tuesday evening, Reuters reported, citing Spanish state news agency EFE.

The ship did not aid the dinghy because the operation had been taken over by Moroccan officials, which dispatched a patrol boat that arrived on Wednesday morning, 10 hours after it had been spotted by a Spanish rescue plane, Reuters reports.

The BBC has sent a request for comment to Morocco's interior ministry.

Angel Victor Torres, leader of the Canary Islands region, described the incident as a "tragedy" and called on the European Union to establish a migration policy that "offers coordinated and supportive responses" to the issue of migration.

Although off Africa's western coast, the Canary Islands are part of Spain, and many migrants travel from Africa to the archipelago in the hope of reaching mainland Europe.

The Western Africa-Atlantic migration route is considered one of the world's deadliest, and at least 543 migrants died or went missing on that journey in 2022, according to the UN's International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

IOM said there were 45 shipwrecks on the route during that period, but acknowledged the figure is "probably underestimated" because data is scarce and incomplete.

Most of those making the journey are from Morocco, Mali, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire and other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, it said.

Separately, Spanish authorities also rescued more than 160 people from three other boats near the islands of Lanzarote and Gran Canaria overnight on Wednesday and Thursday morning.

The news comes after a migrant boat carrying hundreds of people sank off the Greek coast last week, with at least 78 known to have died, although many more are feared to have drowned.

The UN's human rights office says that up to 500 people are still missing, and the BBC has obtained evidence casting doubt on the Greek coastguard's account of what happened. The coastguard claims that the boat was on a course to Italy and not in need of rescue.

[firstoccupier]

Migrant Farm Workers Face Uncertainty Amid Immigration Concerns

As the U.S. prepares for changes in immigration policy under the incoming administration, the situation for migrant farm workers, particularly in agricultural hubs like California’s Central Valley, is becoming increasingly alarming. The California Farm Bureau has voiced concerns that a growing climate of fear regarding deportation is taking a toll on these essential laborers. Many migrant…

[danielleegnew]

Trump, Day One: Who is the little man behind the curtain?

Donald J. Trump official White House portrait, 2025. This is a reminder, to those out there who did not vote for Trump, that there are a few pieces of reality to the plans and executive orders that he is signing. I would like to bring those pieces of reality forward for you to ponder, while reminding everyone that Donald J. Trump would say absolutely anything to get elected and stay out of…

[mangled-by-disuse]

also i'm sorry but just as a heads-up: no matter how shit you're feeling or how shit your country feels

it is not a fair thing to be like "i'm either going to find a foreigner to sham-marry or kill myself" to a foreign, unmarried friend

i am not saying this to the person in question because i don't think they're kidding and also i don't think they were trying to put me on the spot, but. dude. maybe fucking don't.

[collapsedsquid]

On an August afternoon, Pablo stared down at a foam plate sloshing with flavorless pinto beans and a particularly bad version of huevos a la Mexicana. The simple, usually delicious scramble of eggs, tomatoes, onions and jalapeños is difficult to mess up. But if anyone can find a way to make it unpalatable, it’s the cook at his labor camp. Soupy eggs are the last thing the 42-year-old from western Mexico wants to eat. But after a 12-hour day harvesting tobacco in the brutal and sometimes deadly summer heat, he must eat – and this was far from the worst meal he’s been given. A few weeks ago, fellow farm workers got sick due to raw and moldy food they were forced to purchase. On days like this, Pablo can’t decide which is worse: that he’s forced to pay $80 a week for this slop, or that everything about what he eats, when he eats and how much he eats is tightly controlled by his employer. Pablo, who is using a pseudonym due to fear of retaliation, is one of more than 35,000 migrant workers in North Carolina this year as part of the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker Program, a guest visa program overseen by the US Department of Labor (DoL). The program enables American employers to hire foreign workers to perform seasonal agricultural work. Employers in the program frequently exploit their migrant employees, and the structure of the program makes easy work of it. Visas are tied to a single employer who must also provide housing, transportation and access to food, creating a crushing power imbalance between American employers and migrant H-2A workers.

[creativemedianews]

As war looms over Lebanon, refugees wonder how they may live

[phobic-human]

Cubans rallied in Guantanamo to call for the removal of the US’ torture camp. Its naval base is located on land that was stolen from Cuba. Local communist party leaders condemned Trump’s plans to deport migrants to the camp in violation of their human rights.

The Guantanamo Bay naval base is seen as a constant threat to Cuba’s sovereignty. Speakers at the rally pointed out that it has been used to plan coups and counter-revolutionary activity ever since 1959. Now that the current US government is taking an even more aggressive stance towards the island, there are fears that such activities at the base could intensify.

[what-even-is-thiss]

If you start digging into it you’ll notice that regions worldwide with more immigrants tend to have more positive or neutral views towards immigrants. Even if you’re just looking at current citizens.

Like areas in Germany with more migrants are less likely to vote for anti-immigrant politicians. In parts of the US with more immigrants people are far more likely to say that immigration strengthens our country. And even in these areas immigrants are still usually a minority of the population. Less than 15%. Rarely more than 10%.

This is because if you live in an area with a lot of immigrants you’re likely to notice that they’re just like. People. And also not causing a lot of problems at all. They also probably increase the types of food and products you can get locally. Variety is fun. Variety keeps things interesting. It’s easy to make friends with people who are different from you actually. It’s also often very interesting and fun.

A lot of anti-immigration people live in areas with a small percentage of immigrants though. Immigrants to them are some vague scary concept that you never come across.

That’s not what immigrants are though. They’re just people. People that are statistically less likely to do crime, actually. And yet this fear of the other persists. People need something or someone to blame for their problems, so they blame the group of people they don’t see much that they don’t really understand.

And if you have similar politics to me you’re probably like yeah no duh Roman we all know this but clearly. Clearly not everyone knows this because people living deep in the buttcrack of South Dakota that have never met an undocumented immigrant before are still comfortably sitting around in their assumption that immigrants are the reason that they aren’t getting paid enough.

[thatpunnyperson]

According to NBC here in the US, the missing titanic sub has been found. As debris. Off the bow of the Titanic wreckage.

And it looks like the sub suffered what we all suspected, and what was undoubtedly the more merciful of the two options: a catastrophic implosion from the pressure.

Also, more info has come to light about the fishing trawler with the hundreds of migrants that sank cataclysmically off the coast of Greece, indicating that the greek coast guard knew about the vessel AND how much trouble the vessel was in, and were towing it at a speed that made it capsize, at which point they unhooked the tow line and watched the trawler sink without helping the passengers to safety. Despite a bunch of other ships trying to help as well throughout the whole ordeal.

So a lot of people are dead, all because of regulations (and the lack thereof) regarding sea-faring vessels and rescue protocols. People shouldnt be allowed to make a business charging a ton of money for a ride on an uncertified, unsafe, un-seaworthy ship going deep into the ocean with no distress beacon or tether to the mothership. People also shouldnt be allowed to enact laws that criminalize the ferrying of refugees, which then force the refugees to hitch rides on fishing trawlers, and which also prevent people from helping those fishing trawlers full of refugees due to fear of legal consequences.

Hopefully BOTH of these events spark changes on an international scale in terms of what is legally allowed to be sailed, who is legally allowed to be the passengers, and what the rescue protocols are in the event of disaster for any seafaring vessel, illegal or not. It shouldnt be just the global 1% who get 24/7 search parties and remote-operated submersibles helping rescue them.

[toorumlk]

the importance of art and safety.

(in this period of descent into fascism)

If you're a liberal/left-leaning person like me, you have been voraciously keeping up with local, provincial/state and federal politics, and with the world news, using all avenues available to you to try and make sense of the tumultuous time were living through. And thus, with each passing day, you've probably been inundated with the F-word more and more from the news/political commentators you follow, from the images attached in the articles you read, and the academics and journalists you trust. Fascism. With the recent ruling from the UK Supreme Court saying that the legal definition of a woman is solely going to be rooted in biology and seeing the jubilant celebration surrounding it, I can’t help but feel like we just took one more monumental step in the global death march towards fascism.

I’m scared and very worried.

Of course, this isn’t really about my own personal feelings of fear because overall, I will be quite alright. I’m a bisexual, leftist woman and arts and culture person living in Canada, in a dependably liberal-to-progressive riding and city. Yes, my country has a federal election coming up and there is a chance we might (strong emphasis on ‘might’) elect a right-wing reactionary buffoon of our own in the form of Pierre Poilievre, but center and left-of-center Canadians were given a hail Mary in the new liberal party leader Mark Carney, who’s performing better in the early polls everyday. So, we might not have to worry that much at all. Yes, the cost of living is still abysmal (as my friends and I keep saying: girl, the tariffs), and going through life’s very human struggles is still excruciating but ultimately, bearable. Spring, the best season, is well on its way and the days are getting longer and you see that your neighbour’s tulip bulbs are peaking out from the soil and you’re able to go home and give your cat a big kiss on the cheek as they reward you with an annoyed and disgruntled meow.

And so you feel emotionally regulated enough to then go on your daily news binge and find that another university student in the US got black-bagged for expressing pro-Palestine views, you see images of the destruction of Gaza and the concentration prison/camps in El Salvador, and then that the boomer British lady who authored the books that have been bringing so much joy and fulfillment to your art practice donated 70 000 euros to a feminist organization that was the plaintiff fighting to disenfranchise an already marginalized minority group. And you’re left feeling quite… dirty and doom-ridden and powerless while standing in the middle of the cushy imperial core.

Your cat who was annoyed you picked them up earlier has forgiven you now, though, and is headbutting you for some catnip.

But this isn’t about me, not in the slightest. I/we know how these things go. I’m not a history buff by any means (though I really want to be) but I have a basic enough understanding of world history to know we’re already in the throes of fascism: with the targeting and scapegoating of vulnerable minorities like the trans community or the complete hatred and want for disposal of migrants – I feel a deep and suffocating grief for my fellow comrades.

This pain, I believe, is all our duties as human beings with the gift and responsibility of empathy, to feel.

I’m also hyperaware that with the downward fall into fascism comes the defunding and eventual erasure and censorship of art. Now I’m not saying my art is worthy or important enough to be censored. But I am saying we need art; we need as much of it as there can be for our emotional needs which is imperative for our survival. I don’t mean to say this in a hyperproduction/hyper consuming way, of course, we just need human artists, humane art (whatever that means to you) now more than ever.

I’m a political person, and my leftist and feminist principles and values I think show up quite plainly in my work but again, I don’t think I’m making anything radical here – my art I think is just one small piece in a greater human need to make and experience art. Therefore, I’d be remiss to say it wasn’t important. I know my work is important in that I know it means something to people. This community here for instance, or on twitter/x, Instagram or tiktok, which I feel like the luckiest person alive to have somehow conjured, that means something to me, and I’d be glaringly obtuse if I didn’t acknowledge it. So, I sincerely want you to know my art exists not only as the physical manifestation of this vocation of mine, but also as a source of safety and comfort for your senses, if you need it to be.

As much as I want to be, I’m not an activist, I’m just an artist. And my art is the one (I hope) iron-clad thing I can give to the world and the beautiful, worthy of lives of dignity, people within it. Joy and comfort aren’t a solid political program on its own and I know art consumption alone is not going to lead us to liberation, self-determination and lives of dignity. But, my god, do we still need joy, comfort and safety in the form of art to get through each day.

To my nonbinary and trans friends and siblings, I am so, so fucking sorry powers greater than us are using you as pawns for political theatre, and that so many restless people are using you as political punching bags. The world we’re living through is incredibly unfair and unjust at the moment. Your pain is our pain, none of us are free until all of us are free. So, I want you to know that my little pictures and I are here, fighting alongside you.

I know Harry Potter, the IP and the storyworld with its characters, isn’t what’s causing our dissent into fascism. And I know, realistically, I’m not the devil’s spawn for still liking it, for making cute artwork of the titular main character’s best friends for its fandom. I can’t explain in words why I feel such an affinity to this story, this very entry-level story about fighting fascism, with its anti-social megalomaniac villain and its painfully liberal/reformist politics. My pull towards it is deep, abstract, and almost spiritual, and if I could succinctly put these feelings and magnetism into words, I probably wouldn’t be making this much art like my life depended on it. And the awful truth of it is, I’ve never been more artistically fulfilled. I’m so happy while making this work and my cup becomes fuller after each drawing, I selfishly don’t want to stop. Does that make me awful?

A lot of my peers, fellow fanartists, have been considering leaving the fandom altogether and it’s left me feeling a kind of panic because, quite frankly, I don’t want to. Not until the creative reserve (which is rooted in my love and other abstract feelings for the story) within me has run dry, which it hasn’t. And after I realized this, I felt a little ashamed that I wasn’t feeling what others are also feeling, but I think the knee-jerk reaction to leave and disavow this community because of the cartoonishly mean-spirited author (who ironically made this story about love, friendship and fighting fascism) also feels hasty and reactionary. I understand the impulse, I really do. I recognize I have a vested interest in saying this, but I sincerely think we need art now more than ever, if any of my peers are reading this: your art. Thoughtful art, art that is an exercise in empathy. I’m also saying this because I feel a deep sense of responsibility to my friends (majority of whom are also queer and trans) I’ve made through our shared love of this story, to fellow fans and the people I’ve been privileged enough to have touched with my art.

This discomfort of still harboring love for this flawed but ultimately lovable and beloved story during this time of political unrest and chaos, and continuing to express my love for it by creating artwork for it… is something I will just have to live with until it’s run its course. I don’t think this is a righteous grief by any means – I think the mundanity of it is what’s making it especially annoying.

Quivering in the face of good art is I think one of the best feelings in the world, and though I sincerely believe the HP story to be good and adequate in its political and class commentary, this squirming isn’t exactly that. I’m immensely (and selfishly) resentful to JKR for being the mean-spirited bully/troll that she is, not only do I wish she weren’t a right-wing reactionary, I wish her tomfoolery didn’t make me squirm uncomfortably (the word I’m looking for here is ‘cringe’) while still genuinely enjoying this work. Nonetheless, I’m confident in my ability to engage with this story intelligently and I hope to continue to share my thoughts and love for this narrative through posts and meta/cultural analyses and many, many drawings of Ron and Hermione kissing. I am also steadfast in my political convictions, which are so much older than the just-over-a-year-old love I have for these books. My political convictions which have always been and will always continue to be pro-trans, feminist, anticapitalist and grounded in my love and empathy for people.

I don’t have all the answers to how and why we are so drawn to certain stories and characters and tribes (because fandom in a fundamental way acts like a tribe), and why we so profoundly need to keep making and keep experiencing art. Or how to even best live with the contradictions that exist within and outside of us. I’m just a young artist, still in the infancy of my career in many ways, but something in my bones is telling me this is important work, and I should keep doing it – with all its squirming discomfort, and its wonderful, beautiful fulfillment.

Again, we are living through incredibly difficult times, but we must make it through, and we will. I will keep making work that I hope is thoughtful and politically principled, and I hope you’re able to find some joy and comfort in them as I do while making them.

- nus :)