In October 2018, “wandering pilgrims” set off on foot from Honduras to the United States. The group consisted of refugees of all ages who are fleeing violence and poverty – a situation in a region shaped by years of punitive foreign policy by the US itself.
The president is Donald Trump, not giving up the opportunity to watch xenophobic extremes, he went to Twitter to broadcast a “National Emergy” (sic), warning that “terrorists and unknown Middle Easterners will mix” with travelers. In anticipation of a ground attack on the country, Trump ordered 5,200 US troops to be sent to the southern border along with helicopters, piles of razor wire, and other “emergency” equipment.
Of course, the US stayed to tell the story – although the same cannot be said for the thousands of refugees who have died over the years trying to find refuge in this country. Now, as Trump prepares his the second round as a head of state, we are in another phase of “emergy” anti-immigrants, which the president-elect has taken the right to declare on purpose.
After campaigning on a promise to carry out the “biggest deportation operation” in US history, Trump confirmed in November that he was “ready” to declare a national emergency and use the US military to deport millions of undocumented immigrants from the country. The deployment of troops to this task naturally leaves no room for doubt that this is a war – never mind the marketed image of Trump as a leader who somehow hates war.
Not where The US war on asylum seekers and everything new. Or, of course, it is not a war that is being waged by Trumpites and members of the Republican Party. US President Joe Biden, too, has done a good job on the battlefield, overseeing more than 142,000 deportations in 2023 alone. So there it was election and the Biden administration to cancel a whole bunch of federal laws and regulations to expand Trump's beloved wall, against Biden's promises.
Instead of doing all the dirty work, Biden asked for help from the Mexican government, which was already there. regular helper for making life hell for US citizens who have problems. And the more the U.S. pressured Mexico to crack down on immigration, the more dangerous it became for those moving — and the more profitable it became. Mexican drug lords and organized crime syndicates themselves.
After all, “border security” is big business on both sides of the border. And on the US side, it's a completely bipartisan issue that only becomes more apparent when Trump is in charge; Remember, for example, the man's vision in 2019 of the US-Mexico border that had “a tunnel full of water, full of snakes or bears” and a wall with “points on top that can pierce the human body”. And even before the bears come out, they seem to be dying in a fire in Mexican immigration detention center or succumbing to dehydration and desert heat may be more painful.
In the meantime, Trumpian rhetoric based on Biden's preemptive disregard for open border policies will now only provide fuel for Trump's retaliatory attack on the southern border. Like Trump, Biden put his de facto asylum restrictions which violated US and international law – and, as Trump begins the second phase of his quest to “make America great again”, you can bet that the human rights of refugees will be on a slow fire.
And yet National Emergy 2.0 is not just a war on refugees. Ironically, it is also a war in the US itself, which cannot exist in its current form without the support of many undocumented people – people whom Trump threatens with “the biggest deportation” in US history.
According to a report by the United States Chamber of Commerce, the United States is suffering from a labor shortage: “If every unemployed person in the country could find a job, we would still have millions of jobs.” In May 2024, a CNBC analysis found that “immigrant workers are helping to boost the US labor market,” making up 18.6 percent of the workforce in 2023.
The study continued: “As America's workforce ages and the birth rate declines, economists and the Federal Reserve highlight the importance of immigrant workers to economic growth.”
But why should Trump think about the future, the “emergency” when he can focus on spreading fake news like the Haitian immigrants in Ohio. eating livestock?
To be honest, there are many things in America that should be an emergency, among them regularization. school shooting and other deadly gun violence. Institutionalized discrimination also comes to mind, as does the epidemic of homelessness and a The medical industry is dangerous in itself.
But the whole point of “National Emergy” is to confuse real problems by replacing ideas with nonsense. And as Trump gathers the troops to fight his favorite war, it's understandable that his emotions, too, will be wounded.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect Al Jazeera's influence.