Barely two months into the second Donald Trump presidency, the campaign promise of “mass deportation” of undocumented immigrants who are violent criminals seems to have become a policy of simply kicking out any immigrants deemed undesirable by the White House. The Trump administration is currently trying to deport several green card holders for taking part in antiwar protests, revoked several visas over their holders’ political views, and refused a visa holder entry for content contained on his phone, including private messages criticizing Trump policies.
It’s easy to see why this has already been compared to past Red Scares and episodes like the Palmer Raids. But there’s also a more recent era we can point to: George W. Bush’s “war on terror” a quarter of a century ago.
We usually think of Bush’s war on terror policies as a series of foolish, destructive, and often lawless invasions and foreign policy decisions. But it was also a sweeping curtailment of the rights of US immigrants that saw noncitizens — and sometimes, even citizens — of the United States questioned, rounded up, deported, and in some cases detained for as long as months, often on false suspicion.
Shortly after Bush made a now-famous speech insisting the United States was not at war with Islam, his administration began rounding up roughly 1,200 mostly Arab and Muslim immigrants, most of whom were charged and deported for minor immigration infractions. Some were told to simply report themselves or at most come in for simple questioning by immigration officials only…
Auteur: Branko Marcetic
