It may be naive to think that Kelly — or anyone else in the Trump administration — would risk his career to stand in the way of anti-human rights proposals. But many of these proposals, only a short while ago, would have been considered unimaginable. They threaten to return this country to the grimmest chapters of our history, like the mass imprisonment of U.S. citizens and noncitizens of Japanese descent. They are the stuff of dystopic novels, of nightmares.
Kelly could reject the bigotry and irrationality of these proposals, and senators at his confirmation hearing should call on him to do so. The next secretary of homeland security can refuse to carry forward Trump’s anti-Muslim policies, and also decline to cooperate with the FBI or any other agency on the surveillance of activists, immigrants or particular communities. Perhaps most important, the general could use his position to counteract advisers who may tell Trump that he needn’t listen to the millions of Americans who support human rights and civil liberties.
Kelly was always willing to listen to the human rights community. Now, I’m hoping that the president-elect will listen to him.
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