Trump and the return of the National ‘Emergy’ | US-Mexico Border

In October 2018, “Migrant caravanBound for the United States, it set off on foot from Honduras. The group was composed of asylum seekers of all ages fleeing contexts of acute violence and poverty – a regional reality shaped by decades of punitive foreign policy machinations carried out by none other than the United States itself.

Then-US President Donald Trump, who never misses an opportunity to make an extravagant xenophobic spectacle, took to Twitter to broadcast a “national emergency.” [sic]He warned that “criminals and unknown Middle Easterners were mingling” with the convoy. In preparation for a pedestrian assault on the country, Trump ordered the deployment of 5,200 US military forces operating on the southern border along with helicopters, piles of razor wire and other “emergency” equipment.

Clearly, the United States lived to tell the tale – although the same cannot be said for the thousands of asylum seekers who have died over the years while trying to reach perceived safety in the country. Now, as Trump prepares for office Second round As the nation’s commander-in-chief, we are headed for another round of anti-immigrant “emergency” as well, which the president-elect has been given the freedom to preemptively declare.

After campaigning in which he pledged to carry out the “largest deportation” in US history, Trump confirmed in November that he was “ready” to declare a national emergency and use the US military to expel millions of illegal immigrants from the country. Naturally, the deployment of armed forces on this particular mission leaves no doubt that this is a war – not to mention Trump’s marketed image as a somewhat anti-war leader.

Not that The American war on asylum seekers It is nothing new. Of course, it is not a war waged only by Trump supporters and members of the Republican Party. For his part, outgoing US President Joe Biden has done a good job on the battlefield, overseeing more than 142,000 deportations in fiscal year 2023 alone. Then there was that resolution By the Biden administration to waive a whole host of federal laws and regulations in order to expand Trump’s beloved border wall, in violation of Biden’s own promises.

Instead of doing all the dirty work himself, Biden increasingly turned to the Mexican government, which was already missing Founding collaborator In making life hell for the world’s have-nots heading to the United States. The more the United States forces Mexico to crack down on immigration, the more dangerous it becomes for people on the move to exist – and the more profitable it becomes for them. Mexican authorities are addicted to extortion and organized crime groups alike.

After all, “border security” is a big business on both sides of the border. On the American side, it is a completely bipartisan issue, and it does not get any more transparent or crazy when Trump is in power. Recall, for example, a man’s reported vision in 2019 of the US-Mexico border that included a “water-filled trench, infested with snakes or crocodiles” and a wall with “spikes at the top that could pierce human flesh.” Although the crocodiles are not finished yet, they appear to be dying at some point Fire at a Mexican immigration detention center Or succumbing to dehydration and heatstroke in the desert would probably be painful enough.

Meanwhile, the Trumpian fantasy whereby Biden recklessly oversaw an open-to-all border policy will now only provide additional fuel for Trump’s renewed war effort on the southern border. Like Trump, Biden imposed his own policies De facto asylum ban That violated US and international law – and as Trump launches the second part of his quest to “Make America Great Again,” you can bet that the human right to asylum will gradually come under crossfire.

However, “National Emergency 2.0” is not just a war on asylum seekers. Ironically, it is also a war on the United States itself, which cannot exist in its current form without the help of a mass of undocumented workers – the same people whom Trump is threatening with the “largest deportation” in US history.

According to a report by the US Chamber of Commerce, the United States suffers from a clear labor shortage: “If every unemployed person in the country found a job, we would still have millions of jobs open.” In May 2024, a CNBC analysis found that “immigrant workers are helping to boost the US labor market,” making up a record 18.6% of the labor force in 2023.

“As Americans age out of the labor force and birth rates remain low, economists and the Federal Reserve are touting the importance of immigrant workers for overall future economic growth,” the analysis continued.

But why should Trump think about future “emergencies” when he could instead focus on spreading such preposterous lies as that Haitian immigrants in Ohio Eat pets?

To be sure, there are many things in America that can be objectively classified as a national emergency, among them the regularity of emergency situations. School shootings and other deadly acts of violence using firearms. Institutional racism also comes to mind, as with the homelessness epidemic and A predatory healthcare industry that is deadly in itself.

But the whole point of the “national emergency” is to divert attention from the actual problems by replacing reason with paranoid absurdity. As Trump mobilizes troops for the imminent surge in his favorite war, it stands to reason that he too will be a victim.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.