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In response to the Afghan national attacking National guard troops in DC Trump promised to "permanently pause" immigration from all Third world countries in a Truth Social post. That sounded too good to be true and it was.
Trump is actually pausing immigration from only 19 countries, which are Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
Meanwhile the top sources of 3rd world immigration are Mexico, India, Philippines, El Salvador, Vietnam, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Colombia. The only place where those two lists overlap is Cuba.
Within the realm of the possible this is one of the most dramatic federal turnarounds in generations.
Ten years ago presumed Republican frontrunner Jeb Bush called illegal immigration an act of love. Now the president is openly talking about remigration. Come on, if you think this is a good thing, this “betrayed again” eeyore attitude is just a bad model of politics. Trump is mainstreaming mass deportations. Not a single other American politician comes anywhere close. Do you really want to complain that it’s not good enough? Because if you have the option to help row the boat and instead get out your signs wailing “THE END IS NEAR” that says more about you than Trump.
Trump is using BBB to amass the largest deportation force in American history. Net migration is down. H1B restrictions. Benefits shut down. Remittances taxed. It’s not as though Trump is refusing to push the “fix everything” button. These are extremely controversial policies that are facing concerted pushback and lawfare. Trump’s new travel ban is even trying to deny citizenship ceremonies to new immigrants who have otherwise qualified. So, what? Let’s blackpill because we want to be going 88mph and Trump has only taken us from 0 to 50?
Yes he is. Has Trump even asked congress to strip Article III courts of jurisdiction over immigration claims from noncitizens? Has he even threatened to withdraw from UN refugee treaties?
How is either of those a “fix everything” button Trump is refusing to push? One requires Congress, which makes it extremely unlikely. The other is just some idea. I admit I don’t even know much about it. Can Trump withdraw unilaterally? Would this erode his political capital? Does it actually do anything? How much time does it take to draft up the provisions to withdraw? How high should this be on the Presidents agenda relative to the ten thousand other policy items competing for his attention? Are there better uses of his time? How well-understood and well-known is this policy fix?
Or is withdrawing from a UN migration treaty really just the one idea that fixes everything with no cost and zero downside that Trump and his team know all about but are refusing to do because they’ve betrayed us all or are lazy or don’t know how to govern?
I get it, I want more too, but this is watching the President accelerate in real time and complaining he hasn’t reached top speed, while every faction not aligned with Trump is trying to slam on the breaks.
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