Following the second inauguration of President Donald Trump, his administration rolled out several executive orders related to immigration policy. Among these orders, two stand out: the militarization of the southern border and proposals to deny birthright citizenship. If enforced, these policies could challenge the very freedoms and principles on which the United States was built.
The Supreme Court permitted the Trump administration to temporarily revoke legal status for over half a million migrants, an action that sparked controversy. The recent ruling on May 30th allowed the administration to remove these temporary protections, leaving many migrants at risk of deportation. In particular, Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans are greatly affected.
Aggressive uses of executive power, especially Trump’s recent attempts to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, raise concerns about immigrant rights.
Enacted in 1798, the Alien Enemies Act is a relic from America’s founding years. It grants the president authority to detain and deport nationals of enemy nations.
Previously invoked in World War II, Trump plans to use this statute to eliminate the presence of foreign gangs and criminal networks. However, this is a major departure from its original intent, as the U.S. is not responding to a wartime threat.
In summation, all of the president’s actions conflict with the immigration-based identity of the U.S.
The biggest strategy used by the Trump administration is deportation flights. These government-sponsored removal flights, sometimes voluntary, are the only somewhat feasible way of reaching a quota of one million deportations per year. Yet despite efforts in the past month, Trump is still far from his goal.
Moreover, according to Homeland Security, “the average cost to arrest, detain, and remove an illegal alien is $17,121.” To reach a quota of a million deportations annually, it would cost billions of dollars to complete these one-time deportations.
Disillusionment of people with the judicial system has grown rampant, as these forced removals contradict due process. Expedited deportations also disrupt families emotionally and financially.
As border policies tighten and legal protections disappear, even immigrants with green cards or visas can find themselves at risk of losing their residency.
Many of these people are not drug dealers or murderers. They are escaping violence, political persecution, or economic hardship.
On one end, the sentiment being echoed is that undocumented immigrants are criminals taking American jobs, and on the other, refugees and asylum seekers are fleeing conditions that we are fortunate not to be in.
Many of these people are not drug dealers or murderers. They are escaping violence, political persecution, or economic hardship. The root problem of the immigration issue is how Trump plans to invoke laws such as the Alien Enemies Act to justify rapid deportations.
Equally contentious is the rollback of birthright citizenship, a key aspect of American identity since the Civil War. Efforts to deny citizenship based on parents’ legal status have been made, complicating the idea of what it means to be considered American.
While the government has to enforce border security, the current approach is overly aggressive. The reinterpretation of long-standing laws risks undermining the immigrant-founded values upon which the U.S. was built. Immigration policies don’t just affect numbers; they challenge U.S. fundamentals.