The slippery slope

Earlier this week, a Puerto Rico-born US citizen was detained for 3 days and threatened with deportation. Even though his wife brought his birth certificate, they suspected he was an illegal immigrant.

This comes to mind:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the labor leaders, but I did not speak out because I was not a unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

As one day became another and others disappeared, gypsies, mentally retarded, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, criminals, anti-socials and emigrants, I remained silent because I was not one of them.

Then it was they came for me, but no one spoke for me because by then there was no one left to speak.

-- Martin Niemoller, 1945.

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