What we have to lose with Trump: Fair and compassionate immigration policy
OPINION: Donald Trump has become a nightmare for Black immigrants across the diaspora and has sought to reconfigure what constitutes safety.
Four years ago when Donald Trump urged Blacks to try something new with his presidency, he attempted to shore up support for his campaign by appealing to anti-immigrant sentiment.
Trump warned, “Blacks have become refugees in their own country,” as he argued that a Hillary Clinton presidency would lead to increased divestment from Black communities. He claimed that Clinton cared more about employing immigrants than Black Americans.
Read More: Trump to suspend immigration to ‘protect’ American citizens
At the same time, Trump was telling Haitian immigrants that he shared values with them, claiming the community deserved better than Clinton, as she had done little to help the devastated island after the 2010 earthquake.
“Whether you vote for me or not I really want to be your biggest champion,” Trump said per the Miami Herald, while also reportedly referring to the country as a “s**thole.” More important than what he said, however, is what he has done.
Within two years of taking office, Trump revoked Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian earthquake refugees. TPS allows for foreign nationals who are experiencing hardships that make deportation unsafe eligible to stay in the United States temporarily. While this is not an alternative route to permanent residence, TPS has been an important designation that allows those caught in this limbo an opportunity to have some sort of stability in times of transition.
Rather than being a champion, however, Trump has become a nightmare for Black immigrants across the diaspora and has sought to reconfigure what constitutes safety, vis a vis the TPS program, to move Black immigrants out of the U.S.
Not only has he rescinded TPS for Haitian refugees, he has done the same to Ebola refugees from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. With the stroke of a pen, immigrants from these West African nations became unauthorized immigrants. While they were given six months to leave the country, the economic realities of these immigrants’ lives in the U.S. has made the self-deportations the U.S. government required economically difficult, if not impossible. Lives already trying became more imperiled as once authorized immigrants became unauthorized, facing a whole host of difficulties related to their status—namely the fear and anxiety a more punitive immigration regime brings.
And, just when we thought the Trump administration could not get worse, they refused to extend TPS to Hurricane Dorian survivors in 2019. The cruelty of this decision meant a whole host of Black institutions had to step into the breach to provide critical care the U.S. government refused to provide. Hampton University and Prairie View A&M University, for example, offered Bahamian students an opportunity to complete their educations as their country recovered from this devastation.
These instances highlight the cruelty of Trump and his followers. These revocations of TPS demonstrate a willing disregard for the lives of the most marginalized. While the earthquakes in Haiti, the Ebola crisis of West Africa, and the ravages of Hurricane Dorian have subsided, the lingering consequences of these crises on these countries seems to be lost on no one but this administration.
The residual outbreaks of diseases like measles and cholera, and the human and environmental devastation in the wake of these natural disasters demonstrates the fragility of the remaining infrastructure in these countries. Yet, the Trump administration seems more concerned with administratively limiting what it means for communities to be in need of protection.
Otherwise, there we would not have been any reason to revise and expand the infamous Muslim ban (Executive Order 13780) to include Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania. Though no individuals from any of these countries has ever initiated a terrorist-style attack in the U.S., President Trump used terrorism and national security as a canard to continue his crusade against “s**thole countries,” he deems a threat to American progress.
The moves made by the Trump administration demonstrate the Black diaspora is not a concern for this administration. Whether native-born or foreign-born, Blackness makes these communities particular targets for the callousness of this administration. In a country that has seen Black communities ravaged by COVID-19, a virus allowed to run amok by feckless government, Trump officials have ordered the deportations of hundreds of refugees from around the diaspora.
This summer alone, Trump has removed over 200 Haitian immigrants despite United Nations warnings the island nation is ill-equipped to handle this virus. At least three of those deportees tested positive for COVID-19 contracted in America, according to the Miami Herald.
As we reflect on this moment on Trump’s now infamous question, I hope we see it as a warning rather than an invitation. This administration’s immigration tactics have hurt all Black people. The anti-Blackness on full display in this country, from Charlottesville in 2017 to this summer’s racial justice uprisings, are also at the root of the anti-Black immigration policies pursued by Trump.
Read More: Supreme Court rejects end to protections for young immigrants
Of course, Donald Trump will try to tout the pardon of Alice Marie Johnson, funding for HBCUs and the First Step Act as evidence to the contrary, but do not be fooled strangers bearing gifts. Trump has never been a friend of the Black community. According to the Washington Post, Trump has lied over 20,000 times in his tenure as presidency.
We have to remember that our political fortunes are tied to all Black people, including the almost 4.2 million Black immigrants in this country. The same criminal justice system that disproportionately targets Black Americans is also working overtime to ensnare and deport Black immigrants. So, when Trump inevitably asks Black folks what we have to lose this go around we already know the answer—everything.
Dr. Niambi M. Carter is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University. She is the author of American While Black: African Americans, Immigration and the Limits of Citizenship.
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