On the 25th of January in 2017, Trump issued a policy on immigration. This plan has always been a part of Trump’s agenda, and he made it one of his top priorities within his first 100 days. His initial purpose was to stop the abuse of visas which take away from the American worker and to prevent terrorism. The most important parts of his policy include erecting a wall along the southern border, deporting illegal immigrants, and ceasing the funding of sanctuary cities. (ballotpedia.org, 2018)
It all started when Trump first announced his ideas on the construction of a wall. People, specifically liberals, were furious on how someone could do such a thing. They questioned the possibility of us being a free country, when walls are surrounding our border, preventing those from seeking freedom. The important thing we need to remember is that this policy doesn’t apply to every immigrant, but illegal immigrants. The immigrants that did not seek documentation and are working under the radar. However, within the past few weeks, kids are being ripped from their parents who crossed the border illegally. The Trump administration is denying this as one of the goals, and that it is a result from a communication breakdown within the federal government. Supposedly, the “zero-tolerance” policy was never fully outlined to federal agencies. They are attempting to combat this issue by publishing a policy that states the families will be reunited within 30 days of their taking. How will they do this, and will they pull it off? We will have to see. On June 20 of this year, six weeks after the separations started, Trump signed papers to cease them. He, however, maintained that there will remain a criminal action to those who enter illegally (nbcnews.com, 2018). As of June 2, Trump announced that his “wall” is under construction and is already picking up in San Diego (nypost.com, 2018). His goal with the wall is not to prevent anyone from entering America, but if anyone chooses to, they should obtain proper paperwork to legally enter the country. As of now, as long as he is able to able to maintain the chaos that has erupted in these past few months, I think he can really reform our immigration system and actually help our country benefit rather than suffer.
Two days after Trump initially announced his immigration policy, he issued an executive order on refugees and immigration bans. The executive order suspended the refugee admission program for 120 days, permanently blocked the admission of Syrian refugees, and demanded a review of the refugee admission process. Not just immigrants, but also nonimmigrants from Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Iran were banned from entering the United States for a minimum of 90 days. According to Trump, this order was “to ensure the proper review and maximum utilization of available resources for the screening of foreign nationals, and to ensure that adequate standards are established to prevent infiltration by foreign terrorists or criminals.” (Donald Trump, 2017) A day after these executive orders were announced, Federal Judge Ann Donnelly circulated an emergency hold to prevent the removal of said individuals arriving in the U.S. from the countries listed above. Following this notice, almost 200 individuals were detained at airports or wherever they were at the time. (ballotpedia.org, 2018) This sparked controversy, and only worsened Trump’s already seemingly “racist” image. Many felt that Trump was trying to eradicate the country from diversity, but his intentions dug deeper than what people were seeing. Trump wanted safety and wanted to solidify the Patriot Act that was put into effect by former president George W. Bush following the events of 9/11. This travel ban is now over, but it left a lasting impact on the United States and those who wish to enter.
Now, in 2018, we are still facing the declaration that sanctuary cities house criminals, and that the funding for them needs to cease. Another one of Trump’s many executive orders within his first 100 days was to end funding to sanctuary cities that would not corporate with federal immigration officials. According to Trump, immigrants seek refuge in the sanctuary cities upon entering, and it’s then that they begin committing crimes and posing threat to the United States. A federal judge has since issued a mandate to indefinitely block President Trump from following through with his executive order declaring unconstitutional, however, Trump still believes that this is one of the way many ways immigrants are able to commit crimes and take advantage of the United States. (Eli Rosenberg, 2017) If Trump had been successful or is in the future, the funding for things like drug treatment, domestic violence and disability therapy, missing and exploited children, and boys’ and girls’ clubs will be shut down. In 2016, nearly 27 billion dollars was put into these sanctuary cities, and Trump believes that it is too much and we should be focusing more on our economy. (Ray Sanchez, 2017) As of now, no further action has been put forth into this order, however, Trump still desperately believes that his order could really turn around our economic status and our homeland security.
In conclusion, I do think Trump has good intentions, but his decisions and orders were impulsive. He did have one of the most progressive first 100 days in history, but I feel like his executive orders should have been constructed over time rather than signed and rushed out the door. That may have helped them become approved rather that blocked, and maybe given the people more time to acclimate to his presidency. I do believe he can do a lot for our economy and has a lot of knowledge in growth and success. He should be focusing more on that than building a wall that blocks off the southern border, deportation, and refusing to fund non-compliant sanctuary cities. These things could have been put off till later, and his first proposals could have been more focused on his strong suits. In the end, I think Trump still has a lot to offer, and a lot to learn about his country. He knows how to get to the top, so I’m sure he could do that and more for our country. As former president Abraham Lincoln so famously quoted, “A house divided against itself, cannot stand.” If Trump were able to appeal more to those who doubt him, he may be able to eventually lead this country to greatness and truly “make America great again.”