Americans fight back against Trump's racist hotline with space aliens

An extraordinarily racist policy Donald Trump proposed in his joint address to Congress, mostly overlooked by a corporate media anxious to praise him, has come to fruition, and Americans are responding in hilarious — and effective — fashion.

Trump announced the creation of an anti-immigrant office, with the tortured acronym “Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement” (VOICE), which ostensibly would aid victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. Its real purpose, however, was clearly to demonize immigrant communities, given the office’s frequent use of the slur “illegal aliens,” and that it offers no victim support services of its own, instead referring callers to existing resources.

What it does do is issue reports on crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants, and allows anonymous users to track the whereabouts of anyone detained for such crimes.

When the VOICE hotline went live this week, though, Common Defense, a progressive organization of veterans and military families, called on Americans to resist this blatantly racist policy by trolling the hotline with calls about crimes by space aliens — and it worked:

Wouldn't it be a shame if millions of people called this hotline to report their encounters with aliens of the UFO-variety. https://t.co/Cl048Gihnk

— Alexander McCoy (@AlexanderMcCoy4) April 26, 2017

https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/857400296376500224

The trolling effort was aided by another happy coincidence: The hotline was rolled out on “Alien Day,” a gimmick to promote the upcoming “Alien: Covenant” sequel. April 26 is a reference to the setting of the original “Alien” film’s first point of contact, LV-426.

According to BuzzFeed, it worked:

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told BuzzFeed News the hotlines were “tied up by hoax callers.”

“There are certainly more constructive ways to make one’s opinions heard than to prevent legitimate victims of crime from receiving the information and resources they seek because the lines are tied up by hoax callers,” an ICE spokesperson said.

“We will adjust resources, if necessary, to ensure that the victims for whom this office and hotline is intended get the info and resources they need.”

The resistance to Trump has shown itself to be powerful and persistent — and hilarious. The mockery is well-deserved, though it pales in comparison to the mockery that Trump’s racist immigration policies have made of American values.