Trump’s anti-immigrant onslaught sparks fresh alarm heading into 2024
The Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies have sparked fresh alarm among immigrants and their advocates heading into the 2024 presidential race. Trump’s four years in office have resulted in a number of unprecedented anti-immigration measures, including a sweeping travel ban, the forced resettlement of hundreds of thousands of Central American asylum seekers, mass detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants, and the separation of thousands of families.
The President’s policy assault has stoked fear in the immigrant community as the country heads into the next presidential election season, as evidenced by the huge rise in apprehension among immigrants and their families. According to the National Immigration Forum, more than two-thirds of Latino registered voters fear they or someone close to them could be deported, while an even higher percentage of immigrants report feeling less safe since Trump took office. The Forum’s president, Ali Noorani, described how many of them “moved from feeling anxious about their future, to burial in a deep fear of being criminalized and targeted for deportation.”
Trump’s repeated attacks have sent a clear message to immigrants: That immigrants are on their own and must be wary of their actions as the government continues to militarize the border and increase immigration enforcement. As a result, community groups are stepping up for the immigrant populations, organizations like the National Immigration Forum and the American Immigration Council are pushing back on the hostile policies through litigation, and nonprofits like the Immigrant Legal Resource Center are offering legal and community support.
Looking ahead to 2024, immigration advocacy groups are gearing up for a harder, more complicated fight to protect immigrants’ rights and ensure humane immigration reforms. Whether future administrations will continue to harden an already strict immigration stance or will adopt compassionate immigration reform is uncertain. However, one thing is sure: the immigrant community must have a strong voice and bold advocacy in order to°see a change.