Trump’s political agenda summed up by “Go back”

WASHINGTON» Go back where you came from.

President Donald Trump’s tweet Sunday did more than take a shot at four Democratic lawmakers of color. In just a few words, Trump summed up the backbone of his agenda — one aimed at reducing the number of immigrants in the U.S. through fear and force.

“Go back” also was behind Trump’s denunciation of Mexicans as rapists and murderers when he announced his first presidential campaign. It was behind his plans for a border wall, his travel ban and his attempts to end protections for migrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children. It’s behind his closed-door question of why the U.S. had to accept so many people from “(expletive) countries.”

Now it’s behind his administration’s move to effectively end asylum for migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, remaking America’s role as a haven for immigrants around the world.

Trump’s hard-line actions and sometimes racist comments have generated outrage, yet they didn’t prevent Trump from his unlikely victory in 2016 and may have energized some of his supporters. With another election coming up next year, it looks like Trump is doubling down.

In his tweet Sunday, Trump said the four Democratic lawmakers — three of whom were born in the U.S. — should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” Trump said these places “need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough.”

His policies often have been as blunt as his speech. His travel ban order shortly after he took office was billed as excluding “radical Islamic terrorists” from the U.S. A version of his ban was ultimately upheld in court.

His administration also has tried to block asylum seekers from crossing between ports of entry, and he has threatened to shut down the entire southern border. He has moved to end protections for migrants from war-torn or disaster-ravaged countries, and he has drastically reduced the number of refugees accepted.

Then came Monday’s announcement, which goes further than any other asylum restriction. It bans anyone from claiming asylum at the southern border if they pass through another country first. The policy, if it withstands legal challenges, seemed squarely aimed at the thousands of Central American migrant families crossing the border in record numbers. Many are fleeing violence and extreme poverty in their home countries.