The Masjid As-Salam mosque in Albany, where two men from Afghanistan were arrested on Wednesday.

The demonization of groups of people on the basis of race, religion or ethnicity has a shameful history in America. Consider the discrimination against Irish and Chinese immigrants as well as Catholics in the 1800s, the internment of Japanese citizens during World War II, and the surveillance and travel restrictions imposed on Muslims in the aftermath of 9/11.

Now President Donald J. Trump is turning his venom — and the power of government — on Afghans and Somalis. And his threats to bar and expel them are just the start.

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The administration’s xenophobic actions are hitting close to home for the Capital Region, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents this past week arrested 10 Afghan migrants in Albany and Watervliet, offering no explanation for their apprehension. Two of them, a father and son, were grabbed outside a mosque after morning prayers Wednesday; another son was later apprehended at their home. Seven others who were arrested came mostly from a family who has been here for two years.

Days later, we still don’t know what, if anything, they might have done wrong.

Yousaf Sherzad, acting president of the Afghan Community Center in Albany, says the roundups have left people afraid to go to school, prayers or shopping. For our friends and neighbors........

© Times Union