Phantom Enemies and Shadows of Fear
The country is in chaos. Hordes of invaders pour across the border walls cutting swathes of destruction throughout the land. They pillage and destroy everything that lays in their path. Aided and abetted by their sleeper agents, these scum rape and murder innocent babes, fresh faced young maidens, and venerable elders alike. It appears no one can stop them until at last the champion of the people arises. Assuming the mantle of leadership, he claims that he and he alone can save them, but to do so he must use all means necessary. He must subvert the laws to save the country from these ravening beasts, but then peace and prosperity will prevail. So the people place all their trust in this great man who gave up everything to save them, and what do they get in return? Injustice. Their dignity stripped from them and their freedom rendered into slavery. Peace of mind turns to fear and yet still the people will support this self-declared king, for it is not them who are being persecuted. So will some continue to bow down to this tyrant until it becomes too late.
This story has long been told throughout the annals of history. Since time immemorial, men desperate for power, whether they be kings or emperors, grand dukes or princes, silver tongued charlatans or con men, have used phantom enemies to subvert the will of the people. From Adolf Hitler to Saddam Hussein, and from Caesar Augustus to Joseph Stalin one of the surest ways to power is to find a common enemy even where none exist and the most common enemy is of course the foreigner whether he be Jew, Gentile, Muslim, black, white, or yellow.
This tale is no less true in democracies than it is in dictatorships and unfortunately has reared its ugly head time and time again within our own nation. In the name of security and the fear of phantom threats, we have suborned the rights of others even Americans. The recent invocation of the Alien Enemies Act by Donald Trump has proven that.
The Alien Enemies Act is perhaps one of the most pernicious laws in a nation that was supposedly built on the idea of liberty and justice for all. It grants the President of the United States additional powers to detain, imprison and/or deport non-citizens in the event of declared war, invasion, or predatory incursion. Prior to 2025 it has been enacted exactly thrice since its ratification in 1798. It was first enacted during the invasion in the War of 1812 by James Madison to detain British nationals. It was then invoked by Woodrow Wilson in 1917 to detain Germans, Austro-Hungarians, and Ottomans, and perhaps the most unjust instance was by Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II, when he ordered Italians, Germans, and especially Japanese including Japanese Americans to be ripped from their homes and sent to internment camps.
The hope we had was that these echoes of our imperfect and at times inglorious past would remain just that: mere echoes, remembered but never again peal forth. Alas it was not to be for Mr. Trump decreed that there were invaders in our midst and were “poisoning the blood of our nation”. They were rapists, thieves, murderers, terrorists and must be dealt with. Only he had the intestinal fortitude to do what must be done and so he invoked the Alien Enemies Act despite no declaration of war by Congress, no enemy nation conducting an invasion and no predatory incursions. Under these auspices, his agents have arrested, imprisoned, and deported countless thousands with no hope of redress or due process.
For all the alleged criminals and terrorists that have been arrested and deported, there are just as many instances of mistaken identities and innocents being torn from families and deported without a chance to appear before a court of law. The only crime many of these migrants committed is that they failed to follow proper procedures in applying for immigration. Yet that is no reason to violently arrest these people and deport them to a notorious hell hole of a prison in a notably corrupt country. It is no reason to shackle these men, women and children and treat them as less than animals. Yet this is where we find ourselves. We have seen LGBT barbers and fathers, students and professors, activists and mothers arrested in the middle of the street by masked agents and thrown into cells with no due process.
Trump echoes the same old refrain that every dictator and bigot have sung throughout the eons. Migrants, foreigners, and aliens poison the nation and the only way to maintain the purity of the nation is to expel and eliminate them. It never stops there. Soon even citizens will be rounded up, thrown into chains, and exiled to far off lands and for what crime? For simply speaking truth and standing against the dictatorial whims of “King” Trump. His own press secretary has intimated that he and the administration are looking at ways to deport Americans guilty of heinous crimes and deporting them, but will it stop there?
What happens when a Democratic politician or a teacher speaks out against his policies? Will they be declared an enemy of the state, placed in internment camps, tortured, and ultimately disappeared? Will children be ripped from their parents and thrown into gulags and watch their parents brutally murdered? These are no mere shadows of fear, but a very real threat. If we are not prepared to speak out for others, then very soon there will be no one left to speak for us.
Signed,
Martinus Niemollerus
