Venezuelan Migrant Sent to Guantánamo Bay Is ‘Not a Criminal,’ Family Pleads

www.nytimes.com Family of Venezuelan Migrant Sent to Guantánamo: ‘My Brother Is Not a Criminal.’

Luis Alberto Castillo arrived in the United States so that he could “give everything to his son,” said his sister. Then, while scrolling on TikTok, she found out he was headed to Guantánamo.

Key facts here:

He entered the us legally, with an appointment to apply for asylum
He had a Michael Jordan tattoo
US officials decided he was a gang member based on this, even though officials "found that he did not appear to have ties with the Tren de Aragua," the gang he is accused of belonging to

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You vote for fascism, you get fascism.
And we're barely a month in.
- We're 30+ years in. They're just going mask off now.
- Mind you, he isn't somebody who has ever voted in a US election, having never gotten further than an appointment with immigration officials at the border.
  
  I don't think @neons@lemmy.dbzer0.com referred to him, but to Americans generally.
  As in "look at the fascist fucking mess we have made for ourselves, and it has barely even started. We asked for this and now it's happening, it's all our falult and it's all fucked".
  
  Yeah, I hate this kind of statement.
  No. I personally did not ask for this.
  I did not want this.
  I will not take responsibility for this.
  I will not allow you to rope me into your attempt to diffuse reponsibility.
  I, myself, am increasingly at risk of finding myself shipped off to Guantanamo Bay. Every immigrant they do this to brings them one step closer to me. Call me selfish, but imo I have no duty to anyone when it comes to cleaning up the mess that I voted against. Instead, I'm gonna be finding ways for myself and other trans people to get out of the country while I still can.
  You can claim responsibility and try to clean up if you want to, but I'm gonna be trying to leave.
  
  I hate to say it, but it's kind of right in a way. Those of us who knew right from wrong and let it slide by because the wrong was coming from our family and friends and loved ones and we ignored it long enough to fester to the point we have a full on nazi party again. It's not our fault these people are vile soulless creatures, but it's our fault for doing nothing about all the obvious signs that have been present for decades.
  
  I wasn't. I was trying to educate the people around me, but they didn't want to be educated. They wouldn't listen. Hell, my grandparents swore they wouldn't vote for Trump again and did it anyway. What was I supposed to do, take them out back and put em out of their misery?
  
  I mean, cutting all ties isn't unreasonable in my mind when it's Nazi rhetoric.
  
  That's not something I have the freedom to do right now, unfortunately. I'm working on it, though tbh, they're pretty old. I kinda doubt they're gonna make it more than 4yrs. The other Trump voters, though? Yeah. Fuck 'em.
  
  But you get what I'm saying, it's not about you or me, it's about us collectively being complacent. The left sat on their hands.
  
  Sure, let me just fly across the atlantic to clean up the mess that you made while you and all the other ones responsible flee the mess.
  I will not take responsibility for this.
  That's not how this works.
  Germany and the germans had to take responsibility for what the Nazis did. The same way you and all us-americans will have to take responsibility for what Trump does/will do.
  Weasling yourself out of your responsibilities is highly irresponsible, disrespectful to all of Trumps victims and is directly enabling fascism. Remember that most Germans weren't Nazis, they were just willing enough to stand by as the Nazis commited their crimes. Enabling a genocide still makes you responsible for a genocide.
  The quote of Martin Niemöller comes to mind.
  And if you really want to leave: Please don't come to Europe. We already had one Martin Niemöller and learned our lesson, we don't need you anymore for that.
  
  Ah, yes, I forgot that the Jewish Germans, LGBT Germans, disabled Germans, and so on, had to take responsibility for what the Nazis did to them. I forgot that it was their fault that the Nazis got to where they did, and furthermore, it was their fault for not doing enough to stop the Nazis. Don't want to be genocided? Just say, "no"!
  I'm trans. I'm next in line. You're victim-blaming, asshole.
  Edit: I voted for Harris, not Trump. Why don't you go ahead and tell me I shoulda voted third-party or something, hmmm? Or should I have picked up a gun and exercised my 2nd amendment rights? Go ahead, tell me how I'm responsible for this.
  I'm not stupid.
  I didn't vote for that orange piece of shit.
  Yet this isn't the first time someone's demanded that I take partial responsibility for my own oppression.
  
  I'm with you here, I'm so sick and tired of the "please fuck us up we deserve it" rhetoric. personally I've been through enough anguish and i just wanna be left alone, but now i gotta worry about me and my partners survival.
  
  When everything boils over, know that I will rip and tear through the fascists in your name. All my love to those who need to leave. I will have my pounds of flesh.

17 comments