Beyond the wall : US immigration policy under Trump

Abstract

In what follows, I summarize some of the most salient points of migration policy and practice under Trump. I must emphasize this is not a comprehensive review of all the Trump measures that have aimed from the onset to restrict US-bound immigration and punish migrants. It is instead an effort to look back at some of these measures in light of the 2020 US presidential election – one that could mark the end of the (current) Trump era, or presage another four years of migration policy rooted in escalating racism and rightwing nationalism. It is also an attempt to express concern over what the return of the Democratic party into office could bring about, given it also lacks a solid plan to safeguard the rights of those arriving to the US-Mexico border or seeking to enter the US in search of protection. I say this not only as a scholar who follows US migration and border policy for a living, but as a migrant who has witnessed how US migration policy’s alleged efforts to protect a nation and its people have systematically and historically relied on the depiction of migrants and their communities as threats – a trend that is unlikely to disappear under a new administration, regardless of party.