Now I know how Jews must have felt in Germany in 1936.
A week ago, with legal jeopardy looming over Boston U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy’s stay, preventing the Department of Homeland Security from acting on former Secretary Kristi Noem’s termination of Temporary Protective Status visas for Ethiopia, USCIS offered this guidance to employers.
“Due to ongoing court orders staying the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Ethiopia, EAD work permits are temporarily extended. On Form I-9, write “as per court order” in Section 1’s expiration field, and record ‘Aug. 19, 2026’ with a note in Section 2.”
Of course, being Jewish, I was taught the feeling of exclusion and unwantedness, in a country where you settled, and have family. But I had never really encountered it, even as I’ve seen a resurgence of open Jew-hatred here and other places in the world. But I can’t help see the parallels for thousands of immigrants to America—legal immigrants—who have been summarily kicked out of America for no other reason than the government decided they are not wanted.
Trump has called some African countries, like Somalia, “garbage” and vowed to cut immigration from “third world countries,” which he believes contribute “nothing” to America. Whether you agree with that sentiment or not, I think reasonable people can agree that in America, everyone has the opportunity to contribute and succeed. So when people from the African continent immigrate, legally, to attend school, build lives, and get jobs here, should they be lumped in with illegal immigrants from other countries, or Haiti (where immigrants have a legitimate fear of going back)?
As for Ethiopia, it was the last holdout, as Haiti, Somalia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nepal, Honduras, Syria, Yemen, Myanmar, and South Sudan were all terminated when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government in Mullin v. Doe earlier this summer. And when the last stay by Judge Murphy fell, on August 18, the government wasted no time posting notice to Ethiopians to get out of the country.
Or if they manage to remain here, by claiming asylum or other status, their loss of protected status resulted in loss of their work authorizations, jobs, and sources of income. These people have in effect become outcasts in a society where many of them lived for years, legally, following all the guidelines. They have to lie low, because ICE is coming for them.
"Those with terminated TPS are in our nation ILLEGALLY," the homeland security department posted on X after the ruling. "They have two options: LEAVE IMMEDIATELY or be DEPORTED."
If they drive, they might get pulled over for some minor infraction, and get detained, deported, and lose their chance at ever applying for another visa. So they sell their cars. If they own property, they might as well sell that too. If they try to work, their I-9 will come back not authorized. If they work under the table, they could get deported in a raid. In fact, if ICE is indeed coming for them, they could be under surveillance right now, less than 24 hours after USCIS posted the notice online.
Forget about going for a green card: that ship sailed long ago when the Trump administration stopped processing green card lottery applications, and announced there would be no green card (permanent resident) lottery in 2026. Of course, if you have $1 million to “contribute,” and pay a $15,000 “processing fee” in addition to the State Department fees, you can get the Trump Gold Card and permanent residency. And there are plans for a Trump Platinum Card for $5 million, which, according to the website, would offer the holder 270 days in the U.S. without being subject to U.S. taxes on non-U.S. income.
Also, forget about the H-1B visa. Once these outcasts leave the country, their sponsor employer would have to pay a $100,000 bounty to bring them back, in addition to the H1-B fees.
So Ethiopians, some of whom I know, are being stripped of their jobs, their property, and the rights all Americans are guaranteed to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in America. These last 5,000 are the final pegs in the Trump campaign of “America First” to be sent away.
As a Jew, I must draw the parallel, because being a patriotic American requires us now to look upon these people as undesirables. In 1933, the “Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service” banned Jews from government jobs, practicing law, and teaching in public schools and universities. This is when Herr Albert Einstein, formerly of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and the University of Berlin in Germany, moved to New Jersey to become a fixture at Princeton.
In the same year, a 1.5 percent quota on Jewish attendees of public schools and universities was enforced. By September of 1933, Jews were banned from working in theater, art, music, and journalism. Einstein left Germany in October.
Between 1935 and 1937, Jewish officers were drummed out of the German military; the Nuremberg Race Laws stripped Jews of citizenship; Jews were prevented from marrying those of “German blood.” After a hiatus for the 1936 Olympics, Jews were summarily banned from sales or accounting professions. In October 1938, Jews had their passports stamped with a red letter “J”. And in November of that year: Kristallnacht, the pogroms, destroying synagogues, homes, businesses, and consigning 30,000 Jewish men to concentration camps.
Immediately after, Jews were banned from owning retail stores, conducting trade, or offering their own services for money. By the start of 1939, the complete expulsion of Jews was well underway, though many nations would not take them, leading Reinhard Heydrich to formulate “the final solution.”
But this is America! We can’t be like that. We won’t stand by and watch millions of people declared subhuman, beneath contempt to live here.
What do you think we’ve been doing as legal residents, immigrants from all those countries, were systematically expelled, having all legal remedies removed, and done constitutionally, approved by the U.S. Supreme Court. Aren’t you a patriot? Do you oppose the Supreme Court? Then perhaps, a traitor? (To what, blood and soil?)
I have gone too far.
But I can’t help it. It’s how I feel watching people I know having to pack up, sell everything, and leave, not because they are criminals, or doing wrong, but because they have the wrong kind of visa. Oh, there are options: marry an American; or get an O-1B visa. The O-1 visa is for people of “extraordinary ability.” The O-1A is for scientific purposes, and evidence required includes things like a Nobel Prize. Einstein, if he lived today, would get an O-1A. The O-1B is for athletes, artists, actors and such. But lately, it’s main purpose is giving OnlyFans creators (ahem, sex workers on video) a way to stay in America.
So if some of these Ethiopians, the last 5,000 to get booted, decide to stay, legitimately it can be claimed the U.S. is forcing people into the sex worker industry. Less evidence is required to charge someone with sex trafficking, right?
Once again, I’ve gone too far.
But see, America is not supposed to be the place where people who came here legally to study, to work, or to live, are mass deported by the thousands. At least that’s not what I was taught about America.
Of course, we have a problem with the southern border. Not so much these days. Of course we have a problem with millions of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America. But Congress has had decades to deal with it and they haven’t. Besides, deporting 5,000 Ethiopians doesn’t do anything to fix these problems. In fact, many illegal immigrants are staying here because they work in politically sensitive industries, like agriculture in California, where ICE is loathe to go. ICE would rather go to Minneapolis, or Chicago, or those cities infested by leftists, to drive the leftists more left, until New York City gets the “warm embrace” of socialism.
This is all being done in service of political power. Power that our country was designed not to give such a small group running the nation. But here we are.
The last 5,000 TPS holdouts are being booted, and now I finally understand how Jews in Germany felt in 1936. Not wanted. Reviled. Officially denounced by the State. And the crowd stood by and watched it happen, if they weren’t part of the apparatus doing it to them.
Shame on us.
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