INTRODUCTION
The current presidential administration in America is faced by a number of key issues in criminal justice. The administration has been obligated to set up mitigation measures amid public outcry on these issues. The effectiveness of the policies and actions undertaken by the administration have been met by both positive and negative reactions. This essay will tend to analyse whether the current leadership has been successful in the criminal justice department. Three key issues will be analysed which include: immigration, NFL Anthem protests and police shootings. Some measures have been proposed to deal with these issues however they are still way short of satisfactorily addressing them. The main argument therefore is that the American government of the day has an ineffective criminal justice system.
IMMIGRATION
Immigration is movement of people to settle permanently in a foreign country. Many citizens around the globe prefer to settle in the United States being perceived as a prosperous country. This necessitated the provision of the Immigration and Naturalization Act to control the access of immigrants into America (“How The United States Immigration System Works”). It was a reasonable measure because a sudden influx of immigrants can strain the national resources. America today allows a yearly quota of 675000 permanent immigrants (“How The United States Immigration System Works”).
America has however been grappling with the challenge of an enormous number of illegal immigrants. They are thought to contribute towards high crime rates and also increase the net spending of America on social services. President Trump has laid out contentious action plans to address illegal immigration and also trim the number of legal immigrants. He has advocated for the construction of a wall along the Mexican border, travel bans on 6 Islamic countries and recently the Raise Act (Shugerman, Emily). This act will introduce a merit based competitive system for granting American Visas. One has to be well versed in English, is financial stable and have skills required to build the American economy. this is thought to allow access to individuals who won’t engage in crime but rather build the United States economy. The Act will also see a reduction in legal immigrants by 50% in a decade’s time (Shugerman, Emily).
These measures have however faced widespread criticism. Mr Kamal Essaheb, director of policy and advocacy for the National Immigration Law Centre sees these moves as an attempt by Trump’s administration to conceal its own shortcomings by pointing a finger on immigrants. Essaheb points out that immigration boosts GDP growth and also results in wage increments of residents (Shugerman, Emily). His views are supported by a report of the Economic Policy Institute in 2010.
NFL ANTHEM PROTESTS
Political and social issues in America receive wide reactions that they even find themselves percolating into pro sports. Such was the case when Colin Kaepernick (NFL quarterback) began an anthem protest before NFL games from last year. First he sat but then later resorted to taking a knee when the national anthem was sung before football games. His protests were aimed against racial discrimination of black people especially by the police (Jacobson, Louis). This mode of protest was seen by some quarters as disrespect to the American flag; however, it has caught moment with more NFL players taking a knee during pre-game anthems.
The response by the Presidential Administration has been combative rather than reconciliatory. Mr Trump stated in a tweet on November 28, 2017 that the protests showed the NFL’s disrespect to the country and also sites it as the cause of low attendance in NFL stadiums. He had actually called on NFL owners to fire players who resorted to anthem protests while he was in Alabama in September. These protests have soured relationships between players and owners and also created a major divide in a league with majority of black players and white fans.
President Trump may be on the right side of this debate. Most Americans agree that taking a knee when the Anthem is played is a blow to patriotism. The other side to this is that the president should have stayed out of this debate in the first place. This is according to the recently conducted Seton Hall sports poll (Botte, Peter). Mr Trump may have emboldened more black players into defiance of the National Anthem when his sentiments were clearly against players voicing their opinions. It would have been better if he did not talk about it or use a reconciliatory tone rather than harsh words.
POLICE SHOOTINGS
Police brutality is a sensitive issue in the United States especially among the Black population who are majorly on the receiving end of these atrocities. Studies have showed that the police are twice as likely to shoot unarmed black Americans compared to their white counterparts. This clear bias has sparked protests from all quarters; a good example being the NFL anthem protests. President Trump’s administration acknowledges the overzealous use of force by the police. Mr Trump said that confidence in public safety should be restored among the citizens.
The racial inclination to the police killings has however not being addressed by the administration. In fact, many critics have blasted him for recently appearing to condone police brutality. When addressing law enforcement officers on Long Island New York in July, Trump stated his desire to change laws that were “unfairly” stacked against the police (Reilly, Ryan). He also encouraged the officers to be rough on criminals instead of being “too nice” on them. Mr Zeke Johnson of Amnesty International in the USA condemned those remarks as irresponsible because they will lead the police to always have a combative approach in the community (Reilly, Ryan). This will further increase incidences of police brutality instead of mitigating them.
CONCLUSION
The criminal justice system has been ineffective so far according to my analysis. The Raise Act can be a good legislation towards controlling immigration if appropriate amendments are done on it to ensure it is not discriminatory on non-English speakers. Measures such as travel bans and building border walls are however retrogressive and will lead to sour foreign relations and even emboldening of criminal gangs. The administration has failed to tackle the underlying racial bias in police killings but instead the president seeks to give the police more power. The issue of the NFL Anthem protests has been lost because president Trump’s pronouncements made it a war of Trump vs NFL players. More has to be done for these injustices to be mitigated.
References
“How The United States Immigration System Works.” American Immigration Council, 2017, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/how-united-states-immigration-system-works.
Botte, Peter. “Most Americans Want Trump To Shut Up About NFL Anthem Protests.” NY Daily News, 2017, http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/americans-trump-shut-nfl-anthem-protests-article-1.3668536.
Jacobson, Louis. “A Short History Of The National Anthem, Protests And The NFL.” Politifact, 2017, http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/sep/25/short-history-national-anthem-and-sports/.
Reilly, Ryan. “Donald Trump Endorses Police Brutality In Speech To Cops.” Huffpost UK, 2017, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-police-brutality_us_597b840fe4b02a8434b6575a.
Shugerman, Emily. “Trump Announces New Immigration Policy Favouring Financially Stable English Speakers.” The Independent, 2017, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-immigration-policy-english-speakers-financial-stable-raise-act-tom-cotton-david-perdue-a7873711.html.