ASU College Republicans president Joe Pitts recently submitted a letter to The State Press claiming that he and his club support the immigrant community. Students for Socialism affirms that this move is nothing more than a performative stunt.
As a political club that has been actively involved in the affairs of ASU’s community, we will not let their empty rhetoric go unanswered.
Like their parent party, ASU College Republicans, have consistently been silent or outright inflammatory on issues which affect the migrant community.
During the Border Patrol protests during April of last year, they were silent. In November, ASU College Republicans petulantly mocked the righteous anger of immigrant students who prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement from recruiting on campus.
College Republicans said nothing when Joe Arpaio, the Arizona sheriff who was found guilty of racial discrimination and the mass deportation of immigrants, came to campus.
College Republicans actively stood in opposition to the movement for Palestinian liberation. They loudly opposed the anti-racist, anti-colonial efforts of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against the apartheid state of Israel.
Furthermore, no foreign student or migrant rights groups on campus were referenced in their letter. Many such organizations exist on campus, such as Undocumented Students for Educational Equity, the Coalition of International Students and many others.
In addition to this hypocrisy, the rhetoric in the CR article serves to puff up American exceptionalism. As Pitts states, “We exceed all other nations across the world in our acceptance of foreign migrants.” This twaddle completely ignores the fact that migrants are fleeing their home countries because of the brutal violence and plunder perpetrated by the U.S. and its fellow imperialists the world over.
The U.S. is clearly responsible for the influx of Honduran migrants, as U.S. involvement in coups in the region spurred chaos and worsened the conditions of an already suffering Latin America. Wars backed by the U.S. also cause refugee crises, such as the ongoing destruction in Yemen where years of carpet bombing, drone strikes, and allyship to Saudi Arabia have led to what is now internationally recognized as a dire humanitarian crisis.
Pitts is not a migrant himself. He consulted no migrants in the process of writing this article. His opinions are unsubstantiated by the facts. In reality, this nation reflects the absolute poorest treatment of immigrants. From the creation of ICE and Border Patrol, locking kids in literal concentration camps, the separation of Latin American migrant families, to the Chinese Exclusion act, and even Japanese internment camps — U.S. history and the Trump administration’s policy utterly falsify Pitts' claim.
Pitts’s claims about American acceptance of immigrants only applies to people who migrate here “the legal way”. These categorizations based on legality only serve to dehumanize migrants and provide the basis to imprison and deport people by the thousands, hardly an acceptable way to treat any human being.
The most laughable part, however, was saved for the end of the piece. The inclusion of a quote from Ronald Reagan, a poster child for U.S. interference in Latin America and disrespect for marginalized communities, displays how out-of-touch and ungenuine Pitts’ article is. It is nothing more than a series of nice words to distract from the fact that his party supports these violent, right-wing policies.
Editor’s Note: The opinions presented in this letter to the editor are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors. This letter to the editor was submitted by Cole Nichols, a member of Students for Socialism at ASU and a sophomore studying biological sciences.
Reach the author at cjnicho7@asu.edu.
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