Trump’s immigration crackdown also targets legal pathways to enter US
Trump’s immigration crackdown also targets legal pathways to enter US
Share:
Thousands left hopeless as new administration has been relentlessly and systematically dismantling safety nets. Mass deportation – at least in theory – is apparently popular among the American people. So over and over again, Trump and his allies have loudly touted their plans to detain and deport undocumented immigrants, initially focusing on those with criminal records. In doing so, they’ve redirected the US public’s attention toward their “shock and awe” tactics that led to thousands of arrests across the country in less than a week.
But as all eyes turn to these high-profile enforcement efforts, the new administration from its very first moments has also been relentlessly, if more quietly, targeting people trying to come to the US legally, systematically dismantling safety nets meant to protect the world’s most vulnerable individuals and families, who are already suffering because of it.
Some of the programs that Trump has quickly scrapped are legacy systems that have long enjoyed bipartisan support; others are Biden-era innovations intended to provide a more orderly alternative to those risking their lives to slip across the desert or through the Rio Grande.
The Biden administration’s approach was deeply flawed and often inhumane in so many aspects yet it now seems startlingly reasonable and compassionate by comparison. All of those legal pathways are in effect gone, at least for now – and their demise has left many thousands of people who followed US government guidance stranded, hopeless and in danger.
