Who will stand against the bullies?

Bullies don’t stop.

I have never heard of or experienced a case in which someone who victimizes another person decides on their own to stop their behavior. Typically there is an intervention.

The impetus to yield may come in the form an authority figure, education or introspection prompted by personal experience—typically abuse from someone bigger, stronger or with more power.

Ten years ago Donald Trump thudded onto the national stage in his run for president, demonizing Latinos, immigrants and others who did not fit his ideal of what it was to be the right kind of person living in the United States.

After he became president in 2016 he instituted policies that targeted those same groups of people. Some stuck, some didn’t and just before he left office he cheered on those who would overturn the election that booted him out of office. In his wake he left an extremely conservative, right-leaning Supreme Court.
Re-elected in 2024, Trump has returned and his bullying policies have re-emerged with vigor.

He has unleashed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into immigrant communities and Latino neighborhoods. ICE’s directive is to clear out anyone who doesn’t belong.

At times and in broad sweeps federal agents swept up anyone they thought was here illegally. Sometimes arrests were based solely on how someone looked or how they spoke English. A court told the agents to knock it off. What they were doing was not legal.

But the Supreme Court, Trump’s Court, this week said carry on. It seems that in instances in which there is a high likelihood that there may be large swaths of undocumented residents, racial profiling for now is OK, wrote one judge.

The ruling is expected to have an immediate affect in Los Angeles, where the case has its origins.

But what makes anyone genuinely believe that sort of behavior will stay in L.A.? What reason is there to believe that Chula Vista, National City and San Diego, with their proximity to the border and significant Latino populations, won’t be subjected to the same racial profiling sanctioned by the Supreme Court?

Bullies don’t stop on their own.

Which elected leaders will stand with those among us with targets on our backs? Take not. Elections are only one year away.