One of President Donald Trump’s first policy initiatives was a full-blown effort to remove “illegal aliens.” In the ensuing period of time, we have seen new and harsh deportation initiatives, the expanded detention of noncitizens, widespread immigration sweeps and unremitting invectives directed at foreign nationals in our country. But the current deportation frenzy is not a linear progression from previous immigration practice. Rather, there has been a tectonic and virulent transformation in deportation methods characterized by five mutually reinforcing developments:

1) an ideological fervor that perceives immigrants as the enemy;
2) new technologies of Orwellian dimensions that more thoroughly identify deportation suspects;
3) mobilization of a wide range of societal partners in the deportation process;
4) the premature truncation of existing, time-tested humanitarian programs; and
5) various initiatives to put the squeeze on immigrants.

First, there has been a sustained level of governmental rhetoric invoking wartime tropes to describe immigrants. The president repeatedly asserts that America is being invaded by immigrants that justifies a strong response “to repel the disastrous invasion of our country.”    The implications of this attitude are immense, running from the call-up of the military, changing the entire narrative of immigrants from aspiring newcomers to invaders and predators, redefining unauthorized residence from a civil to a criminal act and vastly expanding the scope of presidential power to evict immigrants.

Second, along with an emerging bellicosity toward immigrants, the immigration enforcement agencies have vastly expanded technological means to identify and round-up those deemed to be “illegal aliens.” The available arsenal of enforcement technologies is mindboggling, including: apps and ankle monitors for real time monitoring, powerful databases recording personal information, biometric crosschecking and investigative tools that can break into locked phones and sift through gigabytes of data.

Third, immigration enforcement has traditionally been an exclusive federal function. But acting under the belief that the current immigration influx overwhelms existing enforcement resources, the government is involving a greater number of community, local, state and private resources to support the “deportation enterprise.” The military is being activated both for border security and interior enforcement; local law enforcement is being deputized as ancillary immigration agents; initiatives are now underway to obliterate local legal safeguards for immigrant residents; immigrant safe zones such as houses of worship, hospitals and schools are now fair game for deportation roundups; new immigrant detention facilities are being opened; immigration hotlines are being opened to enable private citizens to report the suspected unauthorized status of their neighbors and colleagues.

Fourth, the basic definition of “illegal alien” is expanding exponentially, including a broader definition of “acts of moral turpitude” that is a catch-all provision to disqualify foreign nationals from immigration eligibility. There is a growing movement to regard any noncitizen who initially entered illegally as having committed an irredeemable violation that mandates deportation, even if they perform subsequent acts of value to the country, such as service in the nation’s armed forces, employment in areas of endemic shortage or the Dreamer community consisting of children who were brought to the United States by their parents at a young age and grew up here.

Finally, we are also seeing a sustained assault on various humanitarian programs for immigrants. The government is prematurely terminating a range of programs — none of which entail governmental financial support — that provide temporary protection from persecution in the home country. As to humanitarian-based pathways leading to permanent residence, previously issued refugee visas are being disallowed and new asylum applications are being outright rejected.

There is the need for the enforcement of our immigration laws and the expulsion through the deportation process of those who flagrantly and willfully violate our laws without compensatory value to our communities. But mass deportation should not be pursued in disregard of broad national economic and social goals or through the injection of fear and intimidation to our communities. Immigration has always provided this nation with a rich repository of new talent and aspiring achievers that has justifiably been analogized to providing a sports team with a deep bench of skilled players who create the potential to achieve championship status. The measure of our greatness is in large measure confirmed by the continuing desire of immigrants to seek new lives in this country. This goal is not served by a broad, undifferentiated deportation policy or the vilification of immigrants that fails to account for the benefits they bring to the national welfare. 

Robert Aronson is a past chair of HIAS, the agency of the American Jewish Community providing safety and protection globally to refugees and the forcibly displaced. In his professional life, he was an immigration attorney.

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