The first months of the president’s second mandate, Donald Trump, have meant the starting shot for the war without barracks that has declared illegal immigration in the United States. To do this, it has launched a series of aggressive policies with the aim of deeply reforming the country’s immigration system through legislative measures, executive orders and guidelines aimed at hunting, capturing and expulsion of the illegal. During its first quarter, the Administration has deported 142,000 people and arrested 158,000 undocumented, while organizations such as Human Rights Watch have documented an increase in cases of arbitrary arrests and forced family separations.
Organizations such as Amnesty International say that the nine measures initiated by the President attempted against human rights. As soon as sitting at the Oval Office, Donald Trump signed a national emergency statement, without going through Congress, to carry out an additional military deployment at the border with Mexico and the construction of new physical barriers. It also revoked protection in those known as>, thus eliminating the regulations that prevented raids in protected spaces such as schools, hospitals and churches. As a consequence, immigrants have stopped going to these centers.
One of the most controversial initiatives has been the suspension of the CBP One application, which is indispensable so that asylum seekers could schedule appointments in the entry ports. The president has also eliminated humanitarian asylum programs for the citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, which allowed their temporary entry and permanence for humanitarian reasons. It also reinforced the capture, retention and expulsion systems of immigrants with the implementation of the Laken Riley Law, which allows the arrest of undocumented persons accused of crimes such as theft, aggression, murder or serious injuries. Moreover, this law has opened the door for state governments to have the ability to sue the National Security Department, if the guidelines given by the White House are not followed.
On the other hand, the law is combined with the Safeguard Operation, which allows customs immigration and control service to expel undocumented immigrants in sanctuary cities such as New York, Chicago or Miami, among others. In this sense, the President also resorted to the application of Executive Order 14159 for>, in order to cut federal funds to jurisdictions that protect immigrants, establish sanctions for those who do not register as undocumented, increase the hiring of agents and restrict the access they have of public benefits and funds.
Likewise, Donald Trump toured the use of the Law of Foreign Enemies of 1798 to expel the members of the Criminal Band of Aragua, as well as began, unsuccessfully, the preparations to use the American base and prison in Guantanamo (Cuba) to intern the expelled migrants. Given the impossibility of doing this, both for physical space and for the legal repercussions that the President would have the president ordered third countries such as Costa Rica or El Salvador, where the fearsome center for confinement of terrorism (CECOT), the mega-cárcel created by the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele is located.
Of all the measures adopted, the most devastating has been the suspension of the CBP One application, since it has left thousands of asylum applicants in a legal limbo that has made them more vulnerable than ever. Above all, those who were in transit or wait on the border with Mexico. To worsen things, the Department of National Security has begun to issue notifications to force the departure of the people to whom the CBP One program had already authorized to reside on American soil. Moreover, the Administration has launched the CBP Home application, aimed at promoting self-deportation.
What options now have migrants? Few. Some may be accepted for the reinstatement of the program> (remain in Mexico), which forces asylum applicants to wait in Mexican lands while their cases are processed in customs, without any protection or legal assistance. The other option is that they ask for asylum in the countries where they have been stranded, something that is unrealistic since, to reach the United States, migrants must cross very dangerous areas such as the Darién corridor.
Meanwhile, within the administration, there are those who are using the situation to benefit financially. The most popular case is from the company Geo Group, which is dedicated to the construction, maintenance and administration of private prisons, which is linked to the attorney general appointed by the president, Pam Bondi. Opportunists have also emerged as the military contractor and former executive director of the controversial Blackwater company, Erik Prince, who has>, according to Politico.
Other companies, such as Palantir, founded by Magnate Peter Thiel, partner of Elon Musk, have already signed millionaire contracts with the Customs Immigration and Control Service to develop a software for a software to track information on illegal migrants without permission, or whose visas have defeated, with the aim of increasing deportations. The tracking platform, known as Immigrationos, in which the US Army, the IRS (the Tax Collection Agency), the FBI and the Government Efficiency Department have collaborated, will have an estimated cost of 30 million and is planned to be delivered on September 25.
On the other hand, Donald Trump is still determined to end citizens by birth established in amendment 14 of the United States Constitution, which is clear about it:>, the text indicates. In addition, there are legal precedents that safeguard that right as the case of Wong Kim Ark in the Supreme Court, which dates from 1898 and declared a citizen born to a man born in the country of non -citizen Chinese parents. The president could try with a new executive order, but this would be given by Bruces with amendment 14 and would be blocked by the federal courts.
The only way to cancel citizens by birth would be through a constitutional amendment, although for this the president would need the support of two thirds of the Congress, as well as the ratification of three quarters of the states (38 of the 50, plus the district of Columbia). At the moment, this is a remote possibility, but not impossible. If it happened, the>, as the national anthem of the country says, as well as the American dream pursued by the millions of immigrants they built, and still do, the United States would come to an abrupt end. At least until the second term of Donald Trump passes, although no one doubts that he will do everything possible to have a third. In that case, American democracy will be injured.