What Is Becoming Clear about Trump’s Deportation Policy
The policies, and their execution, of the Trump administration on undocumented immigrants are becoming clear, and the picture is a bad one.
As with so many of the early Trump moves (birthright citizenship, freezing federal funds and Musk’s DOGE attacks on the civil service) it isn’t “ready, aim, shoot,” but “ready, shoot, aim.” In other words, act fast, grab attention and who cares legal distinctions, discipline or decency.
The Trump claim was that criminals and predatory gang members would be apprehended and deported. A majority of Americans got that and even supported it. But one issue is, “who is a criminal?” Someone who has committed criminal acts in their own country and/or here in the U.S.? Or any undocumented person? The Trump administration is apparently considering any and all undocumented people to be “criminals,” even though entering the U.S. illegally and living here without documentation is a civil offense, not a criminal one.
To get a sense of what this means check out this moving report from “Christianity Today” about an ICE arrest on Sunday at a church in Atlanta. Wilson Velasquez had entered the U.S. illegally with his family. Velasquez turned himself in to U.S. authorities and requested asylum. An asylum hearing has been pending for years. He has no criminal record. He reported regularly to ICE as required. He wore a monitor on his ankle. His life was that of an exemplary person. But ICE pulled him out of a church service and he is now awaiting deportation back to Honduras, leaving his wife and three children behind.
There are two learnings from this report at CT. One, ICE is now targeting churches, which is new. And two, they are considering anyone who has entered the country illegally to be a criminal, even if that person, like Wilson Velasquez has actually played by the rules, but lacks legal documentation or status because the system operates so slowly and inefficiently.
Two other video reports, which appeared this morning at The Free Press, get at other angles of the Trump policy. One, from Bakersfield, California, documents how fear is paralyzing an agricultural town that depends on immigrant labor. The second from Washington Heights in NYC focuses on Latinos who voted for Trump but didn’t expect what is now happening.
Is there any good news here? Maybe. On Sunday Ezra Klein put out an audio essay titled “Don’t Believe Him.” It examines how the new administration is going about its business overall. Although Klein does not focus on deportation, it is a case in point illustrating his overall argument. The idea is not only to “flood the zone” with a flurry of activity that overwhelms media, courts and citizens, but to create the perception that Trump has more power than he actually does. Klein argues that it is crucial that we not buy into that perception. Hence, “don’t believe him.”
Moreover, Klein argues that this is classic overreach which will backfire. Here’s Klein:
“That is the tension at the heart of Trumpâs whole strategy: Trump is acting like a king because he is too weak to govern like a president. He is trying to substitute perception for reality. He is hoping that perception then becomes reality. That can only happen if we believe him.
“The flurry of activity is meant to suggest the existence of a plan. The Trump team wants it known that theyâre ready this time. They will control events rather than be controlled by them. The closer you look, the less true that seems. They are scrambling and flailing already. They are leaking against one another already. Weâve learned, already, that the O.M.B. directive was drafted, reportedly, without the input or oversight of key Trump officials â âit didnât go through the proper approval process,â an administration official told The Washington Post. For this to be the process and product of a signature initiative in the second week of a presidentâs second term is embarrassing.”
Right now the Trump strategy is following the early Facebook/ Meta motto, “Move Fast and Break Things.” But the U.S. is not a tech company (whatever Elon thinks). And “Ready, Shoot, Aim” is not a way to run a government. Not unless we allow it.