Mass deportations?

Despite judicial rebuffs on his ban on immigrants, President  Donald Trump  appears to be intent on waging war on the American society’s most vibrant elements: the immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security is reported to have put in place plans “for aggressive enforcement of immigration laws.” The only saving grace is that the new administration has denied reports that it intended to deploy National Guards to round up the undocumented immigrants in the United States. And, though the Trump administration has emphasised that it will keep intact President Obama's protection programme for “dreamers”, the overall message the immigrants across the board have heard from the Trump White House is one of intimidation and fear. Also, the potential asylum seekers stand discouraged and forewarned. America will no longer be the first choice of the prosecuted. 

If President Trump has his way, the United States would be spending huge resources on making life simply difficult for the current and potential immigrants. The Trump White House wants to empower agencies like the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Custom and Border Protection, as well as to build up a wall along the southern border.  On their part the administration officials insist that President Trump is simply asking for a vigorous enforcement of the existing laws and that the law-enforcement agencies will be targeting mostly “criminals” among the immigrants.

These caveats notwithstanding, President Trump has succeeded in making each and every immigrant edgy, nervous and fearful. The American law-enforcement agencies are neither known for their professional detachment nor for their racial broadmindedness.  The leadership of the law-enforcing agencies remains with those who belong to “the Trump class”, mostly subscribing to the ugly notions of white supremacy. The rest of the world has reacted adversely to these signals. But the new American President has made it clear that he is not going to allow himself to be distracted from those loony ideas and prejudices that in the first instance propelled him to the White House. Nor does he appear bothered at playing the bull in America’s ethnic china shop.