The intentional damage of the anti-immigrant crusade

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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 case of Salvadoran Kilmar Ábrego García encompasses several elements of what is really a campaign of intimidation by Donald Trump’s administration, which uses different people as examples of what can happen to others if they challenge the excesses of his administration.

Ábrego García was deported “in error” to the CECOT prison in El Salvador despite a court order that he not be returned to his country because his life was in danger. Instead of returning him to Maryland, the Trump administration claimed that the young man is a gang member and accused him of smuggling immigrants. Ábrego García denies the accusations.

Instead of admitting the “mistake,” the Trump administration brought him back to the United States solely to press charges. Although he was temporarily released, ICE re-arrested him in Baltimore on Monday. He was offered deportation to Costa Rica in exchange for pleading guilty to human smuggling. When he refused, the Trump administration said it would deport him to the African nation of Uganda. Judge Paula Xinis has halted the deportation for now.

Even if Ábrego García pleads guilty to avoid being sent to Uganda, if this case proves anything, it is the intentional harm caused by Trump’s immigration policies. First, he was deported despite having a court order to prevent his return to El Salvador. He is also accused of being a gang member and a human smuggler, without due process to allow him to defend himself against the charges.

And here other elements come into play, such as revenge as public policy and the incredible cruelty of deporting him to an unsafe country known for human rights violations, such as Uganda. A country where there are no guarantees that he will not be tortured or that his life will not be in danger.

Technically, the DHS is supposed to deport immigrants once it has guarantees that they will not be tortured, but in practice, they have been deported without such assurance.

Deportation to third countries with which immigrants have no ties is one of the Trump administration’s weapons for removing migrants whose countries do not accept them, such as Venezuela, which only admits them from time to time.

It is also a deterrent for many immigrants to self-deport, as has happened, for fear of being detained and sent, not back to their countries, but to brutal prisons in third countries.

One of the many problems is that ICE notifies immigrants only hours before they will be deported to these third countries, further hindering due process and the possibility of having their cases heard by an appeals judge. The Supreme Court has allowed deportations to third countries to continue while their future is being decided in appeals courts.

Nationally and internationally, pro-immigrant and pro-human rights groups denounce deportations to third countries for violating international protections that exist for those seeking asylum.

The case of Ábrego García also highlights the emotional damage to families. His family has mixed immigration status, like so many others across the country. His wife and children are U.S. citizens.

An estimated 5.5 million U.S. children live in households where at least one parent is undocumented, and of those, 1.8 million live in households with two undocumented parents.

The specter of arrest and eventual deportation of one or both parents is devastating for these children and their families.

A study by the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine found that ” “children in mixed-status families often live with chronic anticipatory anxiety that a loved one could be detained or deported. These fears have been shown to lead to school absenteeism, academic disengagement, and heightened emotional distress….These experiences weaken attachment bonds, erode emotional security, and interfere with healthy development.”

In Trump’s anti-immigrant crusade, the damage is not collateral. It is entirely intentional.

The original Spanish version is here.