Trump is taking America down the wrong path with immigration crackdown

Since his inauguration nine days ago, President Donald Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders, gotten into tiffs with Colombia and other countries and implemented a shock-and-awe approach to immigration enforcement. Americans are seeing an unprecedented level of action at the federal level. It’s left the president’s supporters cheering, but threatens to trample legitimate constitutional concerns.

A federal court has already temporarily suspended Trump’s most dubious edict — an executive order banning birthright citizenship. “This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” ruled Judge John C. Coughenour, a Reagan appointee. The obvious goal here is to spark a legal challenge to the 14th Amendment’s seemingly clear words: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States … are citizens of the United States.”

There’s no question the new administration is trying to dramatically restrict immigration — and not just of the “illegal” variety. The fracas with Colombia, which refused to accept deportation flights until the president threatened sanctions, shows much of what Trump is doing is theater. The Biden administration allowed more deportation flights than during Trump’s first term, but did so quietly.

Brazil complained that deportees arrived last week on a flight where they were handcuffed. The administration reportedly instructed agents to dress the part in view of the expected media attention. Clearly, the administration is less concerned about constitutional rights and humane policies than creating a sense of action and even fear.

The president likes to depict the immigration situation as an invasion, which allows him to exert federal emergency powers. “Threats against our Nation’s sovereignty continue today, and it is essential that the Armed Forces staunchly continue to participate in the defense of our territorial integrity and sovereignty,” according to Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order. By presenting immigration as a security threat, he is allowing expanded military operations on U.S. soil.

Again, this is not just about illegal immigration. The Cato Institute reported that the first Trump administration had little success battling illegal immigration — but he did significantly reduce the flow of legal immigration. Both green card issuance and non-immigrant visas plunged under Trump, both before and after the pandemic. That seems wrong to us.

In the short time that the new administration has been in power, Trump immediately shuttered the CBP One app that enabled asylum seekers to make online appointments, leaving frustrated and tearful potential immigrants stuck at the border. These are not illegal immigrants. They are trying to legally go through the legal process of gaining residency.

As NPR reported, the administration also “opened the door for immigration authorities to arrest immigrants in schools, churches and hospitals; and cleared the way for authorities to begin removing more than a million migrants who were legally admitted to the U.S. under the Biden administration.” He’s also sent more troops to the border.

It’s just wrong to send federal agents into schools and appalling to send them into churches. This Editorial Board makes no apologies for its long-running support for open immigration. Liberty flourishes when individuals can come and go as they please. So do economies. It promotes international peace.

It’s fair to require immigrants to follow the rules, but those rules should make the process easy. Having government agents scour the land creates a climate of fear for everyone and creates a regime where even American citizens need to show their papers. We’re definitely on the wrong path here.