"Disappeared" entered the language because of El Salvador, ironically. "Enemies of the state" were "disappeared" there, in the '80's. Joan Didion explained in an essay that the word was appropriate in Spanish, but English borrowed it in translation because we had no word for what the Spanish meant: both an action and a noun, for the people erased from society.
The 261 (alleged number) sent to El Salvador were "disappeared." We don't know who they were, we don't know what they did. We only know what the Administration says about them. I recall the story of the man detained by ICE as he drove away from his house, an address an undocumented immigrant had given the government as a false address of his residence. ICE was ready to put the man on a plane to God knows where until they finally looked at the DL he kept wanting to show them. It was a "True ID," which proved he was lawfully present in the country.
Of course, ICE could have said it was a "Fake ID!" and put him on a plane, and who would be the wiser? Or complain?
Right, Pastor Niehmoller?
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