College Voices
A Look into Trump’s “Hardline” Immigration Reform
Ever since his presidential campaign, and even into his presidency, President Trump has vocalized his opinions about hardline immigration policies. He promised to make America great again, and thus sought immigration reform in ways he thought was best fit for the country.
Trump’s ideals caused outbursts of protests and fear in undocumented communities. He often used derogatory terms to refer to undocumented people and has publicly told them to return to their “sh*thole countries”.
During the first few days in office, Trump ordered Executive Order 13769, more commonly known as the Muslim Travel Ban. It banned people in predominantly Muslim countries from visiting the United States. In addition, it limited the amount of refugees that were admitted into the U.S. As a result, there were people being held at airports, unable to board their flights.
In February of 2017, the government introduced a new bill entitled Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act. The bill seeks to decrease the legal immigration to the United States. This means that the government will issue less amounts of green cards.
When the bill is in effect, The RAISE Act would forbid chain migration. Children would no longer be able to apply their parents for lawful residency.
One of Trump’s prime method of tightening border security was to build a wall between the border of Mexico and the U.S. In December of 2018, Trump demanded $5.7 billion in federal funds to build the wall. Ultimately, this caused the government to shut down for 35 days, making it the longest U.S. government shutdown in history.
In the fall of 2017, the White House caused people to protest, as it terminated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This means that adults who were illegally brought to the U.S. by their parents would no longer be protected from deportation nor be eligible for work permits. However, lower courts have been fighting back the decision, requesting the renewal of DACA.
Another immigration reform was the zero-tolerance policy. Families were separated at the US-Mexico border. When referred by border agents, parents were held in federal jails for prosecution, while children were sent to detention facilities. The government indicated no plans to reunite these families.
More families would soon be separated as the ICE raids to deport at least one million undocumented people.
Recently, on June 17th, Trump tweeted his will to begin the deportation process.
However, he delayed the plan by two weeks in order for the Democrats to reform the asylum laws. Though Trump had delayed the plan by two weeks, the fear induced on the undocumented people has been slow to do the same.
Trump’s main goal of immigration reform has been in effect almost as soon as he stepped into office. Though he has taken initiatives, they were not looked upon with great positivity. They rather induced fear and caused immigrants to fight back for their rights as people residing in the United States.