Donald Trump wants to do everything he can to combat the border, and immigration in particular, in his bid to become America's next “deportation chief.” Speaking to the National Association of Black Journalists He warned that immigrants will “take your jobs” and spoke at the Georgia State University Convention Center. said “Illegal immigrants” “come in through prisons, jails, mental hospitals and psychiatric hospitals.”
These statements are Not trueThese are attempts to justify stricter measures in the name of border security. What many Americans don't realize is that these strict policies don't just affect immigrants; they are a threat to the entire American population.
As a former Department of Homeland Security prosecutor under three presidential administrations, I know the dangers of vilifying foreigners. American citizens are exempt from immigration laws, but when the government detains, deports, or treats immigrants harshly in the name of “border security,” it makes it increasingly easy for the government to use such tactics against all of us.
Politicians and policymakers have a long history of using the legal distinction between foreigners and Americans to sway voters, but in reality, the line is not so clear-cut.
During the 1880 presidential election, candidate James A. Garfield described Chinese immigrants as “IntrusionHe exploited Western fears that Chinese immigrants would take jobs, a border security issue at the time, and two years later the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, banning Chinese immigration altogether.
The law was supposed to apply only to foreigners who did not have Chinese citizenship, but in practice this was not the case.
Many Chinese Americans Entry refusal Those who had the proper documentation to return home but were denied entry to the United States were: supreme courtBut the court allowed the government to reverse the decision and ruled in favor of border security, leaving Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans at risk of arbitrary immigration enforcement.
After World War II, the same tone regarding border security continued, but in a different tone.Operation WetbackAt this time, Americans feared that Mexican workers would “steal” their jobs and drain their resources. President Dwight Eisenhower responded with a mass deportation campaign, rounding up people who resembled Mexican immigrants and deporting them to remote areas of Mexico. Families were separated, Mexican Americans were unfairly deported.
Perhaps immigration officials cared less about their mistakes because their decisions could not be reviewed in the courts, or perhaps they, too, were victims of the border security myth. Whatever the reason, these actions were praised, and Eisenhower used this “success” to ensure his reelection.
In the early 2000s, the War on Terrorism raised new concerns about foreigners. Guantanamo Bay It was established to detain and interrogate suspected terrorists and enemy combatants. The government detained many without charging them, and most Americans could easily watch on television as foreign nationals captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere were transferred to Guantanamo Bay and denied their constitutional rights.
but, Jose PadillaWhen President George W. Bush, a U.S. citizen, arrested him at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the president called him an “enemy combatant” and authorized his long-term detention without formal charges. The Supreme CourtIt is a reminder that whatever we call them, the government must still provide all the constitutional protections to the people of the United States.
There is a better way. Americans have a right to live in a country with secure borders and functioning immigration policies. But our current border policies do not address the real problem.
Instead, more resources 24.7 million shipping containers It offers a much more efficient route for the fentanyl and other contraband that enters the U.S. each year than smuggling it into the U.S. via immigration. 2 to 5 percent The containers are thoroughly inspected. Drug Enforcement Agency Reports back this up, showing that Mexican drug cartels and other criminal organisations are the main source of drug smuggling. But finding drugs in a container doesn't spur voters to go to the polls in the same way as finding drugs in migrants' possessions.
Americans need to learn from history. Because immigrants have no fundamental rights, it is easy for any president to implement “border security” policies. This is a dangerous path, because the real security threat is not to America's physical borders, but to the demonizing labels used to justify the violation of fundamental rights.
These categorical distinctions are nominal, making it easy for Americans to mistakenly believe that these policies never apply to them.
Veronica Cardenas is a former prosecutor for the Department of Homeland Security. She HumanizationA digital platform supporting immigrants and their legal advocates.
