An Inappropriate AntiImmigration Agenda By Raisah Khan Staff Writer With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, our society’s landscape and policies are constantly shifting to adhere to the unprecedented circumstances–sometimes for better, but oftentimes, for worse. The Trump Administration has weaponized the war against the pandemic as an excuse to push forward their anti-immigration agenda, haphazardly constructing policies to suit their own needs.
“Trump’s bias towards this issue is apparent, as he has constantly been seeking a way to box out immigrants–whether it be through building a wall or the proposal of the RAISE Act in 2017.” Pew Research finds that there were 44 million foreign-born individuals in the United States as of 2017. While immigration is often discussed as an “us vs. them” issue, it is clear that they are intrinsically interwoven into the fabric of our society, both socially and economically. One of the most prominent barriers to both documented and undocumented immigrants has been the xenophobic rhetoric used by the government. Several businesses and nonprofits have taken initiative to assuage the harms done to immigrants in our country, but the efforts have been lacking without the support of the government. After the 2016 election, immigration into this country became much more difficult. According to the Department of Homeland Security, in addition to a 30% increase in ICE arrests from 2016 to 2017, the Trump Administration passed several executive orders and policies to reduce resources for naturalization. Slowly, steps were being taken to exacerbate the difficulty of
immigration into this country. Even individuals who were seeking a legal status in the “proper” way were facing extreme scrutiny in their applications and were often kept waiting or denied based off of insignificant details. Then enters COVID-19, altering global dynamics and forcing the United States to reconsider its foreign relations. The “us vs. them” mindset heightened as the President turned against China, blaming the nation for causing the global pandemic. At the beginning of 2020, Trump created travel restrictions against China, which he often flaunts in discussing the pandemic response. As is the tumultuous history between President Trump and the President of China, Xi Jinping, it seems apparent that Trump would relish the opportunity to block out Chinese citizens. However, it was found that 8,000 Chinese residents still entered the U.S. in the first three months after the ban was passed, and that citizens from Hong Kong and Macao were exempt from the ban. Furthermore, there was a faulty screening system for symptoms of returning citizens. The Trump Administration’s lack of proactiveness and meticulosity led to the endangerment of the entire country. This was the first indicator that the government’s concern was never the safety of its citizens or deterring the pandemic: it was about systematically preventing foreigners from entering the country. President Trump continued to pass xenophobic policies with flawed rationale, using the pandemic as an excuse. In the week of July 22, Trump suspended new work visas, cutting a wide variety of jobs, including seasonal workers and students in work-study programs. Ultimately, he successfully blocked 525,000 workers for the rest of 2020, against the advice of business leaders who prefer international workers willing to do specific jobs. These actions compromise the quality of entrepreneurship within the United States. The country has always thrived upon diversity of input and brainpower, which the Trump Administration strives to remove. Some of the brightest minds found in this nation are immigrants, but the inherently racist ideology of
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