The Quiet War on Immigrants, Round Two
In 2019, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) denounced a “stealth anti-immigration campaign” by the first Trump administration. Through a combination of high-profile policy changes like the travel ban on foreigners from Muslim-majority countries and less visible administrative tweaks, a report from the senator comprehensively documented that the Republican president “surreptitiously remade” the immigration…
In 2019, Senator Ed Markey accused the Trump administration of a "stealth anti-immigration campaign," documenting how the president had subtly transformed the immigration system to align with a "perverse vision" that sought to erase immigrants' existence in the United States. This was just the beginning, as now, seven years later, the second Trump administration has continued and amplified these "under the radar" attacks on the US immigration system, according to a follow-up report by Markey shared exclusively with Mother Jones.
The report reveals a concerted effort to destabilize lawful presence, increase enforcement, and reengineer adjudication to expedite and prioritize removals. Senator Markey emphasized that this report exposes the Trump administration's brutal project to dismantle due process, strip immigrants of their lawful status, and transform immigration courts into deportation machines. He stressed that the administration must be held accountable for its attacks on immigrant neighbors.
The report highlights an administration that is leveraging all means to fundamentally alter the immigration system, even in areas that were meant to support immigrants. According to the report, the aims are clear: destabilize the lives of noncitizens in the United States and increase deportations. Recent measures include the stalling of refugee admissions, the withdrawal or narrowing of humanitarian protections, and increased uncertainty surrounding work authorization and legal status retention.
The administration has not only removed legal status from hundreds of thousands of immigrants but has also made the process of obtaining lawful status and citizenship more challenging and riskier. For example, in August, the Department of Homeland Security introduced a policy expanding the "good moral character" standard for citizenship applicants, introducing subjectivity and unpredictability into the process.
Additionally, the politicization of immigration courts, including the firing of over 100 immigration judges and replacing them with military lawyers, and the transformation of the Board of Immigration Appeals, has restricted immigrants' access to due process and relief from deportation. Despite formal legislative changes, President Trump has managed to create an "immigration system transformed from within, appearing legally intact," making individuals more vulnerable to enforcement while making it harder for them to avoid or defend against deportation.
Written by urgent.news from Mother Jones's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
