Not even 24 hours into his second presidential term, Donald Trump signed over twenty executive orders and ten of those pertained to immigration. His policies also stretch further than just illegal immigrants as he halted the resettlement of thousands of already approved and vetted refugees. What are the effects that Trump’s rhetoric and orders will have on the United states, legally and socially?

Trump’s Rhetoric 

Along with his new executive orders, Trump implemented seven new policies which were related to immigration in America. He’s also been pushing would could be extremely harmful stereotypes that many of his supporters blindly believe.

During his debate with Kamala Harris in September he said, “…they are eating the dogs. The people that came in, they are eating the cats. They’re eating – they are eating the pets of the people that live there,” referring to the large population of Haitian immigrants that reside in Springfield, Ohio who actually helped reverse the city’s population decline and revise its infrastructure. The incident he was most likely alluding to was when an American citizen was arrested for killing and eating a cat in Canton, Ohio, over 100 miles away. More recently, he used the tragic death of nursing student, Laken Riley, as a way to reinforce his idea that immigrants are dangerous. In reality, there’s no data that supports his claim about illegal immigrants causing spikes in crime around the country and in fact undocumented immigrants try their best to avoid attention from law enforcement at the risk of being deported. 

ICE and Deportation Facilities

Project 2025, the federal agenda that was made for the current conservative leaders of America, touched on removing sanctuary restrictions for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Those sanctuary protocols prevent ICE from entering schools, places of work, and buildings of worship, such as churches, mosques, and temples. Trump, although he claimed to have absolutely nothing to do with the project, signed an executive order to do just that. 

When undocumented immigrants are caught by ICE or other forms of law enforcement, they are sent to detention facilities. There, people are fingerprinted, questioned, and in most cases separated from family. Children of detained parents cannot be held in criminal detention and are therefore transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services’ ORR (Office of Refugee Resettlement) where they are held in shelters until they can find next of kin or a legal guardian and if neither, then a foster family. These kids are coming to an entirely new country to then be separated from their parents and put in a windowless building surrounded by foil blankets and chain link fences. The facilities are dangerously overcrowded and supplies are limited. Children have been reported to be forced to wear spoiled clothing for days on end while Trump’s administration argues that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) isn’t required to provide the children with basic necessities such as toiletries. This treatment is in direct violation of the Flores Act which was set in 1997 and sets the guidelines for the management and release of the children. Since last year, seven children have been reported to have died either in CBP custody or right after their release. There’s been 97 seven deaths in total since 2005.

In an interview with NBC Trump expressed his belief that children of undocumented immigrants should be deported alongside their parents, but this is illegal. “They can all go out together… The family has a choice,” he said. A choice of leaving behind, what many of those children consider the only home they’ve ever known, or possibly never seeing their parents again. 

Birthright Citizenship

Possibly one of Trump’s most notable executive orders was his motion to end birthright citizenship within America. Birthright citizenship grants any person born on U.S soil automatic citizenship and is stated clearly within the constitution. Abolishing it is completely unconstitutional as the first words of the fourteenth amendment are “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” The result was four federal judges swiftly blocked that order. This American right is the reason Trump is even considered a citizen as his grandfather immigrated to the U.S from Germany in the 1890’s. The United States is only about 250 years old and was the consequence of massive amounts of people immigrating from other countries, the majority from Europe. 

Conclusion 

It’s an undeniable truth that the United States of America was built by immigrants for immigrants.

One of America’s biggest symbols, the Statue of Liberty, has been a representation of what this country is supposed to stand for and it was put on Ellis island to be seen by the thousands of immigrants landing in America.

The work Trump is doing has been in violation of the constitution, a document that the U.S constructed its government and laws off of. Although it would be extremely difficult for President Trump to pass his orders, it’s still concerning that the leader of our country is comfortable with ignoring the Constitution.

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