Products of Immigration Tensions In The U.S-Cutting Down On USAID, ICE Crackdowns And The Zero Toler

President Donald Trump has always had the intention to drive out all illegal immigrants from the U.S and has also proposed cutting down on the quota of immigrants allowed to enter annually. To make his 'wish' possible of making every other country around the world 'envious' of the U.S immigration system, he has moved towards adopting some questionable and unethical policies after assuming office. Recently, some new policies and specifications have been revealed which focus on green cards being issued on merit from now on. However, there's much more going on in addition to just some formally stated policies.

Cutting down on US AID

Recently, in March 2019, Donald Trump decided to cut down on aid-$450 million-to the Northern Triangle in Central America. It was declared openly that the State will carry out the president's order, as according to him, the three countries-El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala-had done little to restrict illegal migrants headed to U.S from their lands.

Officials in U.S and those around the world are puzzled because of this decision as it might even backfire. Reducing aid to these already poor countries would lead to a rise in poverty, compelling people to migrate to the U.S. Almost the entire amount of aid provided to these countries was intended to combat issues that force people to migrate to U.S in the first place-poverty, violence, law and order, etcetera-and has shown improved results over the years.

Zero tolerance policy

The family-separation-policy under the Trump administration was introduced, in April 2018, across the entire U.S-Mexico border in order to repel immigrants from entering the States illegally with their children in hope of benefitting from the DACA policy and seeking asylum. However, it was later discovered that actions were being taken in accordance with the immoral policy a year before the officials had announced it.

What the policy proposed seemed like a simple decision; immigrants who had entered through the border could either agree to be held in detention with their children or be separated from them and sent to different tents or camps- the high cost of paying for those camps and facilities also compromised the utilization of resources in other sectors such as crime.

In reality, most of the immigrants were separated from their children; the guardians or parents (adults) were jailed while the minors were held by the Health & Human Sciences Department of the U.S. A general amnesty at the border was observed as little children were seen weeping and screaming helplessly while they were being snatched away from their parents/guardians. No hope of reunification of these families existed but finally, Mr. Trump ordered for the separations to stop and many families were reunited. However, ever since this order was passed, a few hundreds of separations have been reported and there are some rumors from officials about a reintroduction of this policy.

ICE crackdowns

The United States I.C.E, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was handed the task of carrying out vigorous and aggressive checks on immigrants. A substantial increase was seen in the number of I.C.E agents, who were given the authority to make arrests against the immigrants with suspicious criminal records to ensure security of the U.S public. But it actually made immigrant communities, even those with legal papers and green cards, feel insecure and threatened.

I.C.E agents would barge in anywhere-homes, workplaces-in cities around the entire country and arrest immigrants, without carrying out necessary investigation before taking many innocent people into their custody. No consideration was shown regarding the physical health or age of these people- reportedly, pregnant women and aged individuals have also been arrested on spot. According to a research, 4 out of every 5 people in custody had only really minor offenses in their records or didn't have a criminal record at all. Mass deportations and detentions followed these arrests, leaving thousands of people in distress and worry about their future.