When Donald Trump campaigned for the presidency, he vowed to initiate “the largest deportation operation in American history.” Since resuming office, he is intent on making good on that promise. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have already apprehended thousands of undocumented migrants. In a significant development, the US Supreme Court recently lifted a ban preventing the deportation of alleged gang members to Venezuela, citing an 18th-century statute, though it requires deportees to be granted judicial review. Even Joe Rogan, a podcast host who has supported Trump, criticized as “horrific” the deportation of an asylum seeker labeled a criminal solely due to his tattoos, invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
What stands out this time is the administration’s focus on individuals who legally entered and resided in the US, like Palestinian activist and student Mahmoud Khalil. Usually, green card holders lose their status after a criminal conviction; however, Khalil hasn’t been accused of any crime. Trump’s administration committed to expelling international students involved in pro-Palestinian protests, labeling them antisemitic. Khalil was prominent in this movement at Columbia University, and his arrest last month was celebrated by the President as “the first of many.” Similarly, Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish student at Tufts, was detained by masked agents for co-authoring an opinion piece. Beyond the protests, numerous students have had their visas revoked for minor or non-criminal infractions.
This aggressive policy leverages laws in ways they were not intended. Historically, the Alien Enemies Act was invoked only during wartime, but Trump refers to mass migration as an “invasion.” Khalil and others are being targeted under an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which permits deportation if a foreign national’s presence could adversely affect US foreign policy. While this campaign appears indiscriminate, Trump’s offer of asylum to white Afrikaners experiencing “unjust racial discrimination” in South Africa starkly indicates the administration’s selective inclusivity.
The current environment of fear among migrants, despite its social ramifications, is not accidental but intentional. The Trump administration aims to encourage undocumented individuals to “self-deport,” which is more cost-effective than ICE actively pursuing them. Fines of up to $998 a day are proposed for those who fail to leave, even applying penalties retroactively over five years. Considerations of fairness or compassion seem absent. An “administrative error” led to Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador—despite his lawful employment in the US and marriage to a US citizen—yet the administration resists rectifying this mistake.
US citizens should also be concerned about what these measures reveal about the nation’s character and potential impacts on their own rights. The Trump administration seeks to eliminate birthright citizenship and is increasing efforts to strip citizenship from individuals. Trump even expressed enthusiasm, albeit with caution to check legality, when El Salvador offered to imprison US citizens in its mega-prisons. The arrest of Khalil has already created a chilling effect on dissent among US citizens; the First Amendment’s protection of free speech isn’t limited to citizens alone.
Reflecting on the past, Thomas Jefferson’s warning when the alien and sedition laws were enacted seems eerily relevant today: “The friendless alien has indeed been selected as the safest subject of a first experiment; but the citizen will soon follow.”
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