To: FFF Friends and Supporters From: Jacob G. Hornberger Subject: FFF Immigration Project Date: January 31, 2003
Whether Americans will admit it or not, American society is now being transformed in one of the most revolutionary fashions in American history. Today, the federal government is assuming and exercising powers that have historically been the hope and dream of communist and totalitarian governments throughout history:
* Massive government monitoring of the American people;
* Government snitch programs that encourage Americans to spy and report on each other;
* The permanent incarceration of American citizens, as well as accused foreign criminals, who are denied the benefit of counsel, trial, or habeas corpus;
* The threat of military tribunals for suspected criminals;
* The assassination of suspected criminals, including Americans, in foreign countries;
* Torture of suspected criminals and prisoners of war in violation of due process of law and the Geneva Convention;
* The president’s starting and waging of wars without the constitutionally required congressional declaration of war;
* The active support of brutal regimes all over the world;
* An out-of-control drug war involving the continual destruction of liberty and privacy, not to mention arbitrary seizures of massive amounts of private property to help fund the drug war;
* Unlimited amounts of taxpayer money used to purchase allegiance from foreign governments;
* Uncontrolled spending on military armaments that dazzle the people and on domestic welfare that keeps them pacified.
Whether Americans want to admit it or not, the truth is that we are witnessing the sovietization of American society, for no one can dispute that all of those practices were important and essential aspects of the Soviet Union.
What is the excuse for this massive transformation of American society? It is the “war on terrorism,” a metaphorical war that has no ending — that is, in fact, perpetual in nature. It would be impossible to find a better excuse for the move toward omnipotent government, at least from the standpoint of the advocates of collectivism.
But while many Americans are practically pleading that the federal government “temporarily” suspend their rights and liberties in the hope that terrorists won’t kill them, many other Americans are fiercely resisting assaults on their rights and freedoms. They instinctively and cognitively understand the lesson of Nazi Germany, where, relying on the excuses of “economic emergency” (the Great Depression), the “war on terrorism” (terrorists had just firebombed the Reichstag), and the Soviet “communist threat” (pre–Cold War), German legislators “temporarily” surrendered emergency powers to the German chancellor.
However, there is one group of people here in the United States who lack adequate means by which to resist the growing oppression that is sweeping across our land. They are the foreigners — the immigrants living in America, who have become the direct targets of federal power. Round-ups. Incarcerations. Secret detentions and secret judicial proceedings. Fingerprinting. Files. Mandatory appearances at government offices.
Nothing could be more frightening for a foreigner and his family. Nothing could be more lonely. Nothing could be more depressing. Nothing could be more hopeless. Many Americans know what it was like to travel through places such as communist East Germany and Eastern Europe as well as the Soviet Union. Others know what it’s like to be a foreigner in North Korea, China, and Cuba. That’s the feeling of fear that immigrants in the United States now have, especially given that they are confronting the most powerful government in history.
Contrary to federal claims, immigrants and immigration are not the cause of terrorism against Americans. The September 11 attacks are rooted instead in the U.S. government’s foreign policy, an arrogant interventionist policy based on bombs, embargoes, sanctions, blockades, support of brutal regimes, delivery of weaponry to evil rulers, undeclared wars, unprovoked attacks, and bribery (foreign aid) of foreign rulers. It is a policy that has led to the deaths of multitudes of innocent people all around the world, especially the Middle East and Latin America. It is a policy that has engendered anger and hatred all over the world against both the U.S. government and the American people.
Immigrants living in America have become the convenient target for federal officials because they know that they are not in a good position to defend themselves. The feds know that immigrants are the defenseless, the helpless, the downtrodden, the weak, the poor. Who’s going to fight for them?
We are.
We are going to continue ardently resisting and opposing not only the federal government’s long-time foreign policy of interventionism but also the new isolationism that threatens to build a new Berlin Wall around America, to exile and harass foreigners, and to exclude them from our country.
The future well-being of our nation lies not in a perverted combination of “freedom” for the U.S. government to continue serving as the world’s interventionist policeman and isolationism for the American people.
Our well-being lies instead with taking away the “freedom” of the federal government to continue its arrogant interventionist foreign policy and freeing the American people to trade and interact with people all over the world.
In light of the terrible anti-immigrant wave sweeping not only the United States but also nations all over the world, including totalitarian countries, we have decided to devote a special section of our website — “The FFF Immigration Project” — to articles, both News and Commentary, on the subject of immigration.
As everyone knows, including rulers in totalitarian countries, ideas have consequences. Our hope is that our Internet dissemination of ideas on immigration all over the world will slow and possibly even help reverse the worldwide tide of exclusion and oppression against immigrants.
Here at The Future of Freedom Foundation, we are fighting hard to put a permanent stop to the root cause of terrorism against America and also to preserve the rights and freedoms of the American people from some of the most massive federal assaults in the history of our country. We are also fighting hard to protect those who risk their lives crossing walls and borders in the attempt to sustain and better their lives and who hope and dream some day of experiencing the same rights and freedoms as the American people.
Sincerely, Jacob G. Hornberger President The Future of Freedom Foundation
