The Evils of Mass Deportation
Image by Joseph Lockley.
As America braces for the return of Donald Trump to the White House, the policies of his second administration will cause severe damage to the nation.
Chief among them, of course, is Trump’s promise to carry out a mass deportation of refugees and migrants who have arrived in the country over the last several years in pursuit of a better life for themselves and their families.
Will the Trump administration stomp on humanitarian values?
Mass deportation disrupts families, many of whom include longtime U.S. citizens or legal residents. Deportations will only end up targeting vulnerable populations, including asylum seekers, refugees, and individuals who have lived in the U.S. for decades. In fact, many individuals targeted for deportation have no criminal record and are active contributors to their communities.
And what about the economic impact?
Trump’s inhumane mass deportations will adversely affect industries reliant on immigrant labor, such as agriculture, construction, and hospitality. Many immigrants, documented or not, contribute significantly to local economies through labor and taxes. If they are forced to leave, these industries will be the first to feel the effects of deportations.
We must have humane immigration policies in which we expand legal immigration pathways and improve the efficiency of the immigration system.
Deporting everyone does not accomplish this nor does closing the border completely. Refugees seeking to enter the U.S. should have easier and more viable options available instead of queuing for days at the border as has occurred in the past.
Refugees escaping armed conflicts, persecution, humanitarian crises, and economic hardship are coming from countries as close as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. They are also arriving from as far away as the Democratic Republic of Congo and China.
They are in desperate need of asylum and a better life. By turning many of these people away as well as mass deporting those who have succeeded in entering the U.S., the Trump administration will be committing an act against humanity.
This is vile, unacceptable, and should be condemned at the highest levels.
Sending people in need across the border and back to their country of origin or elsewhere means sentencing them to at least a life of continued hardship and at most to violence and persecution and even death.
As citizens of the free world, we cannot allow such an atrocity to occur on our watch. We cannot abide this nor can we stand idly by as innocents are captured against their will and marched out of the country by gunpoint by a fascist Trump regime.
Germany has also taken the step to close its borders and carry out mass deportations as well and has come under fierce criticism for doing so.
The U.S. should take notes and learn from Germany’s mistakes on this. There are better ways to deal with this issue such as focusing on assimilation and education. This would be money well spent as immigrants who become integrated into society succeed in giving back to the country through taxes for instance.
It is true that the U.S. is in need of immigration reform and what this means is the need to institute better methods of absorbing refugees.
What this does not mean is closing the border completely and deporting all immigrants and refugees from the country regardless of their background or family connections.
Like a bull in a china shop, Trump will reenter the White House with bombastic decrees and threats. Unlike former U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt, Trump will carry a little stick and yell loudly.
His border and immigration policy stinks and Americans who voted for Trump should be ashamed of themselves. And hopefully they are willing to work in agriculture, construction, and hospitality, because the people who work in these industries now are about to get unjustly deported.
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