The Trump administration rose to power using anti-immigrant rhetoric targeting Latino immigrants and refugees. Once in office, he set in motion a series of changes in policies and practices that have normalized repression through border controls and created a humanitarian crisis at the nation’s southern border. In the first 100 days of his presidency Trump signed 30 executive orders. The first weakened the Affordable Care Act, the second expedited environmental reviews and approvals for infrastructure projects deemed to be high priority. The third sought to abolish sanctuary cities and denied privacy to non-citizens. The fourth directed federal agencies to secure the southern border and begin planning the construction of a border wall. The fifth barred people from seven Muslim countries from entering the United States for 90 days. So it has been a stream of executive orders that have diminished regulatory practices, restructured government, and targeted immigrants in the name of public safety, and which continue to this day.

Since its initial days in office, Trump’s administration has kept up his negative rhetoric against Latino immigrants and, worse yet, has taken actions to detain those attempting to enter the United States, including those seeking asylum. He has promoted fear among voters by saying that Latino immigrants bring drugs, diseases, crime, the threat of terrorism, and other problems to this country. He never provides evidence, however. Moreover, he ignores the fact that more Americans, including children, die at the hands of domestic terrorists than at the hands of Latino immigrants.

Trump’s regime has separated families, detained children in cage-like facilities, and maintained their incarceration conditions as spartan as possible as a means of deterring others from seeking entry to this country. In many cases, not even providing tooth brushes. Not only are children traumatized by the separation from their families, their basic and education needs go unmet, and their long-term mental health and economic well-being are harmed. These practices, along with the denial of due process for the detained and for asylum seekers, violate basic human rights, and show the world that this nation’s humanitarian policies have been transformed into inhumane policies.

Despite President Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, polls show that as many as 75% of Americans believe immigration is good. A majority of them believe that immigrants take jobs that Americans do NOT want. They also believe that immigrants make the economy better, oppose building a wall at the southern border, and favor giving undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship.