In 2012, when my novel was published, readers felt sure it could never happen in the US. Now theyre calling it prescient, writes novelist Sabrina Vourvoulias

I knew we were in trouble when undocumented immigrants started disappearing.

It was 2008, and they were being snatched by immigration agents right off the subway platform at the 8th and Market station in Philadelphia. Or they were dumped across state borders after being offered a ride in New Yorks Westchester county. Or they simply never came home after their workplaces were raided in Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Mississippi.

It had been happening before then, of course, but thats when I decided to change the novel I was writing at the time into a cautionary tale about immigration policy turned totalitarian. I came by the instinct for projecting worst-case scenarios honestly I had grown up in Guatemala during the 36-year internal armed crisis that left 200,000 people dead or permanently disappeared.

The resulting novel, Ink, was published in 2012 by Crossed Genres Publications. Some who read it commented that the premise seemed unlikely, that nothing resembling the dystopia it depicted would ever happen in the United States.

By the time Rosarium Publishing (a very woke small press in Washington DC) decided to rerelease the novel this September, however, I had received countless messages from readers pointing to real-life concordances. Just this week the Mexican Canadian fiction writer Silvia Moreno-Garcia tweeted: I read this years ago when it came out and it was good, but a tad far-fetched. Im sad to report its now very likely.

Where we stand now poised on the precipice of a real-life immigration dystopia cannot be laid entirely at Trumps feet. Obama, Bush and Clinton all helped escalate the criminalization of undocumented immigrants in the US. But it is Trumps unabashed ill will against immigrants that may finally drive us over the edge.

In real life, as in fiction, it starts with language. Throughout my journalism career I have railed against the use of illegals to describe those whose immigration status is irregular. But the leap from that to Trumps use of animals and his statement that immigrants are infesting the nation, is a leap from abstract to concrete dehumanization. To verminization, in fact. And as Anil Kalhan, a professor of law at Drexel University, noted recently, what does one do with an infestation of vermin? Eradicate and exterminate.

While we havent yet thank God escalated to extermination, the administrations plan to eradicate the influx of immigrants (many of them asylum-seekers from the Northern Triangle of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras) has been far-ranging. It includes efforts to physically block people from the US ports of entry where they can legally petition for asylum; overturning asylum protections for victims of domestic and gang violence; even creating a taskforce to consider stripping citizenship from naturalized citizens who are deemed to have lied on their applications.

It
It may well be that the heartrending photos of those separated and detained children is what actually checks our slide into full-on immigration dystopia. Photograph: Handout/Reuters

But nothing has illustrated the Trump administrations willingness to employ the most noxious means to attain their ends than the separation of 2,000 immigrant children from their parents and their detention in centers and tender age shelters for infants and pre-toddlers.

While the executive order Trump issued on Wednesday temporarily stops the process of separation, the damage will probably be long-term. Immigration attorneys are uncertain that those children who were already separated can be successfully reunited with their parents, and the process is likely to further psychologically damage an already traumatized generation of immigrant children.

Ironically for the administrations plan (and befitting the predictive quality of my novel) it may well be that the heartrending photos of those separated and detained children is what actually checks our slide into full-on immigration dystopia.

I am heartened by the level of public outrage the photos have triggered across the nation. As I stood amid a crowd of approximately 2,000 protesters at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia on 19 June, the willingness to act to stop these breaches of human dignity was palpable.

The eye is a strange organ, says Del, one of the characters in my novel. The true repository of memory. I can only hope that the memory of the photos of the children housed in chain-link perreras (kennels) and under reflective emergency blankets in the detention center rooms known as hieleras (freezers) as well the one of the toddler girl wailing as her mother is patted down remains vivid in our collective memory long after the news cycle turns to other matters.

Our future as a nation depends on remembering these very images, and seeing this moment for exactly what it is. A chance to reverse the course of this administrations destructive policies. Lets not allow a dystopian future to be written for us.

  • Sabrina Vourvoulias is a freelance journalist and novelist

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/23/immigration-dystopia-border-detention

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

509 COMMENTS

  5. [url=http://tretinoin365.com/]tretinoin online india[/url] [url=http://buspar24.com/]buy 15 mg buspar[/url] [url=http://finpecia911.com/]finpecia[/url] [url=http://motilium10mg.com/]motilium otc canada[/url] [url=http://azithromycinp.com/]price of azithromycin in india[/url]

  117. Taxi moto line
    128 Rue la Boétie
    75008 Paris
    +33 6 51 612 712  

    Taxi moto paris

    Everything is very open with a very clear explanation of the issues.
    It was really informative. Your site is very useful.

    Many thanks for sharing!

  122. Wonderful beat ! I wish to apprentice while you amend your
    website, how could i subscribe for a blog website?
    The account aided me a acceptable deal. I had been a little bit acquainted
    of this your broadcast offered bright clear concept

  192. Thanks for your concepts. One thing we’ve noticed is banks along with financial institutions are aware of the spending practices of consumers while also understand that most of the people max out there their real credit cards around the getaways. They properly take advantage of this specific fact and commence flooding your current inbox along with snail-mail box using hundreds of no-interest APR card offers just after the holiday season comes to an end. Knowing that should you be like 98% of American community, you’ll rush at the possiblity to consolidate card debt and shift balances for 0 apr interest rates credit cards. iiihhjm https://headachemedi.com – what to take for Headache pain

  193. Thanks for your thoughts. One thing I’ve got noticed is the fact banks in addition to financial institutions understand the spending behaviors of consumers and as well understand that the majority of people max out and about their cards around the breaks. They smartly take advantage of that fact and then start flooding ones inbox in addition to snail-mail box having hundreds of no interest APR credit cards offers shortly after the holiday season concludes. Knowing that for anyone who is like 98% in the American general public, you’ll soar at the possible opportunity to consolidate consumer credit card debt and switch balances towards 0 interest rate credit cards. mllkjmn https://headachemedi.com – migraine headache meds

  196. Thanks for your thoughts. One thing I’ve got noticed is the fact banks in addition to financial institutions understand the spending behaviors of consumers and as well understand that the majority of people max outside their cards around the breaks. They smartly take advantage of that fact and then start flooding ones inbox in addition to snail-mail box having hundreds of no interest APR credit cards offers shortly after the holiday season closes. Knowing that for anyone who is like 98% in the American public, you’ll jump at the chance to consolidate credit card debt and transfer balances to 0 APR credit cards. aaaaaaa https://stomachmedi.com – stomach pain drugs

  198. Thanks for your strategies. One thing really noticed is that often banks plus financial institutions know the dimensions and spending patterns of consumers plus understand that plenty of people max outside their cards around the trips. They correctly take advantage of this real fact and then start flooding a person’s inbox plus snail-mail box by using hundreds of no interest APR credit cards offers shortly when the holiday season closes. Knowing that when you are like 98% in the American general public, you’ll get at the one opportunity to consolidate financial debt and switch balances towards 0 rate credit cards. poonmpp https://pancreasmedi.com – over counter medicine for stomach pain

  199. Thanks for your suggestions. One thing I’ve noticed is banks along with financial institutions are aware of the spending practices of consumers while also understand that most of the people max out there their real credit cards around the getaways. They properly take advantage of this specific fact and commence flooding your current inbox along with snail-mail box using hundreds of no-interest APR card offers just after the holiday season comes to an end. Knowing that should you be like 98% of American community, you’ll rush at the possiblity to consolidate card debt and shift balances for 0 apr interest rates credit cards. jiiihkm https://pancreasmedi.com – list of stomach medications

  339. Nice blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it
    from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple tweeks would really
    make my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your theme.
    Thank you

  460. This is really interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger.
    I’ve joined your rss feed and look forward to seeking more
    of your excellent post. Also, I’ve shared your web site
    in my social networks!

  504. I just like the valuable info you supply in your articles.
    I’ll bookmark your blog and take a look at again right here regularly.
    I am reasonably certain I’ll be told a lot of new stuff proper right here!
    Good luck for the following!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here