
On the first day of his second and already tumultuous tenure, President Donald Trump signed an executive order into law titled “Protect the American People Against Invasion,” causing anxiety to ripple through American immigrant communities.
Section 17 of the order specifically disavows sanctuary cities, like Philadelphia, and threatens to revoke federal funding if these jurisdictions interfere with deportation efforts.
Trump’s rhetoric around immigration throughout his election campaign was charged with venomous xenophobia that his supporters absorbed like a sponge. Every social media post I encountered defending the rights of immigrants was met with trite rebuttals diminishing migrants’ fears or replies that immediately conflated the immigrant population with criminals.
Deportation is not a new phenomenon in American politics, as previous presidents also have a track record for expelling immigrants. Before Trump’s 2016 term, former President Barack Obama’s administration was responsible for 3 million deportations, NPR reported.
Regardless of who is overseeing deportation efforts, I have always strongly opposed the practice. However, the accumulation of Trump’s scornful speeches have amalgamated to form a tempest of dehumanization that is unlike anything I’ve seen in recent years.
In times of such palpable political division, it’s imperative to preserve everyone’s dignity, regardless of political opinion. Deportations and harmful rhetoric surrounding undocumented immigrants have always been present, but now violence and inhumane treatment are at the forefront of American thought.
Immediately following the executive order, Fox News hosts paraded camera crews around sanctuary cities as Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers began deportations. Just a week into the ICE raids, Newsmax host Carl Higbie mockingly ate a plate of tacos on air while gloating about the president’s success.
On Jan. 31, the official White House’s X account attacked singer Selena Gomez for her emotional reaction to the administration’s deportation efforts. Official government bodies and media personalities openly criticizing private citizens for their political opinions, especially with a topic as emotionally charged as deportation, is the hallmark of the administration’s lack of humane treatment.
The mistreatment of immigrants was further brought to public attention after the Trump administration sent the first flight of deportees to Brazil on Jan. 24. The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, criticized the treatment of the passengers, many of whom were chained by their hands and feet in an overcrowded cabin with broken air conditioning units, The New York Times reported.
But the blatant indifference to robbing immigrants of their humanity is something I’ve noticed runs rampant on both sides of the political aisle.
An image has recently gone viral online, circulated by the left-leaning side of the internet, of a man in ICE custody, wearing a shirt that said “Latinos for Trump” on the back. The picture is not real, as the design of the back of the shirt was added in with Photoshop.
Regardless of the picture’s credibility, the thought of Latine Trump voters getting whisked away in an ICE van seems to bring the American left an abhorrent sense of pride. The incessant barrage of replies saying “You got what you voted for” is exactly what upholds the rampant xenophobia and bigotry that got us all here.
Immigrants who fall victim to the authoritative ICE raids deserve unabashed empathy, regardless of their political affiliations. There should be no excuse for celebrating someone’s life being ripped out from under them, only to be treated as an animal getting led to slaughter, especially by the people who swore to protect them.
The issue of immigration transcends economics and politics. We’re currently facing a massive depletion of human consideration and it is imperative to treat it as such.
Be the first to comment