Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant vision
ENGLISH
WASHINGTON, DC -- As the first year of his Administration underscores, Donald Trump’s attacks on immigrants and “the other” have been a core and defining feature of his presidency. As we reach the end of the first year of the Trump Administration, we offer up the following recap of his actions on immigration: the radical vision at work and the cruel implementation of the agenda that is the Trump Administration’s dark version of America.
ENGLISH The Radical Vision
Under the direction of President Trump, and with the guidance of officials and advisors such as Jeff Sessions, John Kelly, and Stephen Miller, the Trump Administration has been advancing a radical vision that seeks to kick out and keep out immigrants and refugees – in order to reverse the demographic diversification of America. A series of Trump Administration policy memos, practices, and comments make explicit that their immigration enforcement vision is to deport or exclude anyone and everyone they can.
The details in Trump’s executive order on interior enforcement made clear that just about all of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in America are at risk of deportation.
A February memo from ICE stated that “effective immediately…officers will take enforcement action against all removable aliens encountered in the course of their duties.”
In December, ICE Director Thomas Homan stated to the Associated Press: “The president made it clear in his executive orders: There’s no population off the table. If you’re in this country illegally, we’re looking for you and we’re going to look to apprehend you.”
The Administration has made a practice of going after some of the easiest undocumented immigrant targets to locate – the formerly “low priority” immigrants showing up for routine appointments at ICE and other DHS departments, and those attending hearings at our nation’s courthouses.
The Cruel Implementation
In our name and with our tax dollars, the Trump Administration is engaged in a massive operation to sow fear and separate families, by deporting as many people as possible. The length of time that immigrants have resided in the U.S., their history of contribution, support for U.S. citizen children, and lack of criminal history no longer matter.
ICE arrests of immigrants without criminal records has doubled under Trump and overall “interior removals” – the phrase capturing deportations away from the border – jumped 37 percent compared to the previous year.
These statistics capture just one disturbing piece of the larger plan that has been put into practice. In addition the Administration has:
Imposed a ban on millions of Muslims;
Ended DACA and plunged some 800,000 young immigrants into a crisis that has yet to be resolved by Congress, despite the urgent need;
Eliminated immigration enforcement priorities and deported long-settled immigrants regardless of equities;
Detained and deported immigrants who are complying with the law and checking in regularly with the government;
Eviscerated protections for Central American minors fleeing violence;
Slashed refugee admissions;
Used the specter of criminality to advance sweeping raids against immigrant youth;
Sought to punish local jurisdictions more interested in public safety than aiding and abetting mass deportation;
Tried to slash legal immigration in a variety of forms;
Dismantled protections for 300,000 Temporary Protected Status holders from nations in no condition to accept their return; and,
Demanded billions of new dollars for a border wall, deportation agents, and detention centers.
Of course, it’s the real people and real families affected by the above-mentioned policies that bring home their devastation, in a way that statistics and policy summaries cannot. Tens of thousands of mothers and fathers are being banished from their homes and families. These are people who have lived in America for decades, many of whom have U.S.-born children, and who have dutifully complied with government-ordered requirements for years. These are not the “bad hombres” Trump promised to deport, but the immigrants who are following the government’s rules.
The Trump Administration’s enforcement actions have been indiscriminate, relentless, and cruel. Among the most disturbing targets of enforcement have been Dreamers, including DACA recipients like Pennsylvania’s Osman Enriquez, who was recently detained by ICE after losing his DACA status due to delays at the post office associated with the arbitrary October DACA renewal deadline.
The Administration’s cruelty against young immigrants was also vividly captured in the arrest and detention of 10-year-old Rosa Maria Hernandez, who has cerebral palsy and has lived in Texas since she was three months old. CBP agents followed the ambulance Rosa Maria was riding in from a border checkpoint to a Corpus Christi hospital, where five fully armed uniformed agents waited outside her hospital room before detaining her without her parents or guardian. Rosa Maria, and other young immigrants like her, would qualify for the Dream Act – and no one in their right mind could argue that she should be a priority for deportation. (America’s Voice)