Cruelty, prejudice, and money motivate Trump’s anti-immigrant policy

Maribel Hastings

Washington, DC – Below is a column by Maribel Hastings from America’s Voice en Español translated to English from Spanish. It ran in several Spanish-language media outlets earlier this week:

The Trump administration is acting maliciously, from celebrating the removal of TPS from Haitians, the same people they accused last year of eating pets in Ohio; to the Border Czar, Tom Homan, confirming that all undocumented people are deportation targets since they are all “criminals”; to Elon Musk’s email to federal employees, telling them to provide five accomplishments from the previous work week or be dismissed. The level of cruelty and perversion is not normal.

While Trump dismantles the federal government and issues machiavellian executive orders, many of which are illegal and unconstitutional, a segment of the population seems to be still processing what is happening — including those who voted for Trump and are now being affected by some of those executive orders, or his proposals for budget cuts.

Maybe they thought Trump would limit himself to detaining and deporting undocumented people of color, and his policies would not touch them. But the reality is different.

The House of Representatives and Senate are proposing different versions of the budget. The House is seeking to finance tax cuts for millionaires and corporations, as well as the deportation machine, through cuts to health and nutrition programs like Medicaid, Obamacare (ACA), and SNAP, to name a few. Trump wants more than $175 billion dollars for the border and mass deportations.

This administration’s attacks come from so many flanks that it’s difficult to determine how to respond. They are not limited to one group or cause. Immigrants; the LGBTQ+ community; people who depend on diverse federal programs that deal with everything from health, education, energy, and nutritional assistance; and those who finance scientific research to fight cancer or Alzheimer’s are being attacked. Not to mention international programs for food and health assistance, even to treat and prevent HIV and AIDS in poor countries.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed to put a stop to Trump’s actions, and some judges have ruled against the president, as in the case about eliminating birthright citizenship or impeding the detention of undocumented people in churches and other houses of worship.

The question is whether the Trump administration will respect judicial decisions because in this new world order we are living in, Trump believes he has the absolute power of a monarch or a dictator, where the executive prevails over the other branches of government — legislative and judicial powers that, for Trump, have no weight.

Trump’s obsession with immigrants is not only because of his prejudice toward communities of color, but because all of his executive actions and plans for mass deportation economically benefit those who operate private prisons. These in turn are political benefactors of the president. ABC News reported that Damon Hininger, the CEO of CoreCivic, the largest operator of private prisons, declared: “We anticipate significant growth opportunities, perhaps the most significant growth in our company’s history over the next several years.”

Private military contractors are also celebrating Trump’s plans. According to POLITICO, a group that includes Erik Prince, ex-Executive Director of Blackwater, presented the White House with an aggressive plan to deport 12 million immigrants before the 2026 midterm elections, through “‘processing camps’ on military bases, a private fleet of 100 planes, and a ‘small army’ of private citizens empowered to make arrests.”

More proof of Trump’s money interests? Trump wants to register undocumented people, with fines or jail for those who do not come forward, at the same time he proposes a “gold card” for investors, which includes a path to citizenship, at the moderate cost of $5 million.

But pockets of resistance have already started to surge around the country. The media is reporting about town halls convened by Republican legislators in Republican states, where constituents are questioning Trump’s plans that directly affect them.

The daily paper La Opinión reported that community patrols are alerting their communities about the presence of immigration agents, and have even disrupted operations.

Guadalupe Carrasco, Professor of Chicano and Latin American Studies at Cal State University Northridge, who participates in these patrols, told the newspaper that “we know there are risks to what we are doing, that they can prosecute us and even bring false charges for any reason… But we are going to continue protecting our community at any rate.”

The original Spanish version is here.