Since taking office in 2024, the current administration has implemented a series of policies that restrict and persecute immigration. More than 622,000 undocumented immigrants have been deported from the United States since Donald Trump returned to the White House on January 20.
Among the measures implemented are the cancellation of the CBP One app for asylum seekers; the end of humanitarian programs (CHNV); the deployment of military troops in cities and at the border; the expansion of detention centers; and the use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations without a hearing.
A step with a major negative impact on the intensification of his anti-immigrant policy was the implementation of Proclamation 10949, an expansion of travel restrictions that establishes selective demographic exclusion and wiped out the principle of family reunification at a stroke.
In addition to all these draconian measures, the U.S. government has launched operations in several cities with the stated aim of detaining and deporting immigrants with "criminal records," targeting the mass apprehension of migrants from Central and South America.
This is nothing new; endemic racism, inherent in the culture of that nation, has reaped its harvest of hatred throughout most of its history. Thus, during the 18th and 19th centuries, the Naturalization Act of 1790 was enacted, establishing citizenship only for "free white persons"; and in 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was proclaimed, the first legislation prohibiting immigration based on nationality/race.
The Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act) established a quota system based on national origin to favor the entry of Europeans from the north and west; and in 1930, they implemented the "Mexican Repatriation," which allowed for mass deportations that included U.S. citizens.
In the 21st century, the criminalization of immigrants and asylum seekers, the use of narratives of "invasion" and threats to U.S. security have resulted in numerous human rights violations in centers where victims of raids and arbitrary detentions are held.
The coexistence of the discourse of a "nation of immigrants" with policies of exclusion may sometimes seem contradictory, but if we analyze the structural and historical factors, we may be able to "understand."
Since its inception, U.S. citizenship has been legally linked to race, and the category of "white" has been used as a tool to grant privileges and include or exclude groups according to economic and political convenience, for example, Native Americans.
The rhetoric that describes immigrants as a danger to the "blood" or culture of the country repeats this historical pattern. It is a narrative that diverts attention from structural causes such as the concentration of wealth and corporate policies laden with privileges.
