Episode 21 | Flooded
We are in an era of feeling flooded - both literally and figuratively, emotionally and politically. We give time to talking about the flood along the Guadalupe River in Texas and the deep reality of grief that many are facing. We offer some resources to help those who might be suffering, like Bo’s Place in Houston.
Then we turn to an increase in ICE raids across the country. Congress just passed the “Big Beautiful Bill” which provides huge amounts of money for the war against immigration. Here is a quick breakdown of funds as it currently stands:
$170 billion: for immigration and border enforcement.
$46.5 billion: for border wall construction and improvements.
$45 billion: for detention facilities, including family detention centers.
$29.9 billion: for hiring, training, and retention of ICE personnel, as well as technology and transportation upgrades.
$10 billion: grants for states to help with federal immigration enforcement.
$65 billion: for CBP, with a significant portion going towards border walls.
Increased fees: for asylum applications, work permits, and appeals.
New fees: for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) applications.
It’s been said that history doesn’t so much repeat as it does rhyme, and this is one such moment. The Fugitive Slave Act of the 1850s influenced the development of policing in this country by capturing and returning those freed from slavery back to slave states. Now we see ICE agents partnering with law enforcement, exerting force on immigrants, treating them as less than human, and separating families to return people to their home countries, often ones left under duress.
We can resist unjust laws non-violently, a playbook that already exists. We can turn to the wisdom of those who have already lived through and written lines of this poem. We believe it is our duty to resist laws that work against justice and human dignity, and we hope you will consider joining up where you can!
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Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American
Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow
https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/the-king-philosophy/