The US immigration crackdown: Donald Trump has lost public support for his agenda by going too far

But as the year unfolded, his anti-immigrant agenda drove policy far beyond where most Americans are willing to go.

Trump has claimed the US is being “invaded”—on 15 March, he invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport more than 200 Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador—and that he’s only deporting violent criminals.

But data from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shows most have not been charged with crimes. His approval numbers on immigration have fallen from positive by 9 percentage points in March to negative by 11 points in December (Reuters/Ipsos polls).

Why so? Four key decisions:

One, draconian limits on refugees: Admissions had grown under Joe Biden, swamping US support systems.

On Trump’s first day in office, he pivoted to the other extreme with an executive order that shut the Refugee Admissions Program, leaving thousands of refugees stranded, including those with applications in process. The new admission rate is just 7,500.

Trump has decried immigrants from what he calls ‘Third World’ countries and been vocal about a preference for White immigrants. His refugee programme gives preference to White Afrikaners, whom Trump has said face persecution [in South Africa].

He is also promoting his anti-refugee stance as a new standard for Europe. In November, a State Department post on X warned that “Mass migration poses an existential threat to Western civilization and undermines the stability of key American allies.”

Two, legal status of immigrants who’ve done nothing wrong revoked: Trump has steadily widened the pool of illegal immigrants by stripping legal status from those who entered under temporary protections.

He ended or is trying to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, Venezuelans, Afghans, Hondurans, Somalis, Ethiopians and others who arrived after being vetted. More than 1.2 million immigrants who had been here legally may soon find themselves subject to deportation.

Three, record numbers of immigrants detained: Over the summer, a temporary facility in Florida became known for its inhumane conditions—and its callous name: Alligator Alcatraz. It was the first of several nicknamed detention centres celebrated by the administration. A backlash against the facilities has been fierce.

Officials are now said to be looking at private prisons and other existing facilities to handle increased numbers of detainees. Those held have included some legal immigrants (like graduate students here on student visas) and even some US citizens. Some say they’ve been held for days or weeks without due process.

Four, US cities hit hard with militarized enforcement: Under the guise of public safety, Trump began ordering National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Washington, Portland and Chicago. Federal agents from ICE, along with Border Patrol, also poured into those cities.

ICE agents in masks and street clothes became a common sight, along with Border Patrol agents who adopted full combat kit as they engaged in dramatic raids and aggressive takedowns of immigrants who often had no criminal record.

The tactics deployed under Trump are far more aggressive than under previous presidents, even though a number of former presidents deported more people. In Minneapolis, agents were recorded dragging a woman said to be pregnant across a street as protestors threw chunks of ice. (DHS called her “a vandal.”)

How far will Trump go? The Supreme Court is weighing whether to repeal birthright citizenship—a change Trump considers essential.

Immigration agents have begun using mobile facial recognition technology to detect potential undocumented immigrants in crowds, to the dismay of civil rights advocates. And ICE is on a hiring spree.

Trump’s immigration agenda is clear. He seeks more than a secure border and ridding the US of “worst of the worst” criminal immigrants. Trump sees mass migration as a threat that could displace ‘American’ culture, even though that’s a mosaic made by immigration.

His latest move is to set aggressive quotas of 100 to 200 a month on denaturalization, which strips immigrants of US citizenship. The process was once for a few cases of immigration fraud or other narrow circumstances.The new quotas represent a way to instill terror in those who thought they had cleared every hurdle on their long road to citizenship.

The New Year should make Americans look deep within and ask themselves whether this is the country and the future they want. ©Bloomberg