The inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States was like waiting for a Category 5 hurricane, and I say this knowingly because I have experienced several cyclones. That anxiety and certainty of knowing that the devastation will be immense, especially for immigrants and their citizen and permanent resident family members. But also for the country’s economy, for our moral fiber and for our democracy. Trump wasted no time in activating his reign of terror among immigrants and like a good would-be autocrat, he wants to govern by decree and abuses his powers. For example, he declared a “national emergency” on the border with Mexico to deploy the military to stop the “invasion” of undocumented immigrants despite the sustained reduction in arrests on the strip in recent months. He also began the process to deny birthright citizenship to babies born in the United States to undocumented parents. More than twenty states, cities, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued to prevent the implementation of the order, calling it unconstitutional. Among the immigration executive orders are the reestablishment of the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program that requires asylum seekers to remain in the neighboring country while they wait for their appointment before the immigration courts in the United States. He took other steps to undermine the asylum system: He suspended refugee resettlement for at least four months. And it eliminated the CBP One application that allowed asylum seekers to request their appointments virtually to avoid chaos at the border. The application was instrumental in reducing border crossings under the outgoing administration of Democrat Joe Biden. ‘Stay in Mexico’ worsened the crisis in the strip as thousands of migrants, from individuals to entire families, slept outdoors in inhumane conditions due to the lack of shelters. Many were victims of crimes as they were at the mercy of drug trafficking cartels. Trump will also end the practice of ‘catch and release’, which allows immigrants to be released into the United States while they await their hearings in immigration court. As part of his plan to eliminate birthright citizenship, he places obstacles, such as requiring the relevant agencies not to issue passports or Social Security cards unless one of the minor’s parents is a citizen or permanent resident. Trump knows that he cannot eliminate the 14th Amendment with a stroke of the pen, that it requires a constitutional amendment and that his plan will be challenged in court, but he wants to show the MAGA movement that he is “keeping” his campaign promises. He also invoked the Alien Enemies Act, to designate cartels and certain gangs as terrorist organizations. The 1798 law, which has only been applied three times and in times of war, allows the detention, relocation or deportation of nationals of the enemy country of the United States for reasons of national security. Regarding deportations, Trump declared that “all illegal entry will immediately stop, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens to the places from which they came.” As of this writing, there have been no confirmed raids under Trump. But it rescinded a memo prohibiting such operations in “sensitive” places such as churches, schools, courts and shelters. Trump eliminated humanitarian parole for migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Haiti. The executive orders reflect the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which provided Trump and his team with a roadmap for a highly extremist agenda, not only on immigration but in energy, education, labor rights, civil rights, and other areas. . What is fearful is not only that Republicans control the executive and legislative branches, and have the balance tilted in their favor in the judicial branch. They also had the first Trump administration as a rehearsal and this time these measures are written to try to survive appeals in court. Immigration extremism is the tip of the iceberg in this government since an outgoing president, Biden, issued preventive pardons to his relatives and public officials out of fear that they could be persecuted and accused of “something” because Trump considers them his political enemies. Ironically, while Trump calls immigrants “criminals,” he pardons 1,500 of those convicted or prosecuted for the violent attack on the federal Capitol on January 6, 2021. Like a major Category 5 hurricane, Trump and his extremist policies promise severe damage that will test our resilience, our humanity, our Constitution, and the neutrality of our judicial system.
