Trump’s Obsession

The president announces new measures of doubtful legality against immigrants

Donald Trump’s obsession with immigration has taken on a new dimension that goes beyond both common sense and fundamental human rights and even the constitutional order of the world’s most powerful democracy.

The president of the United States has already provided plenty of evidence that none of the proposals he launches − however unorthodox the means he uses − should be taken lightly. The latest example is his offer to buy Greenland from Denmark, which has developed from an idea into an inconceivable bilateral crisis between Washington and Copenhagen. And, from the moment the New York millionaire arrived at the White House in January 2017, if there has been a common thread in his torrent of controversial initiatives − where such initiatives have not been illegal − it is immigration.

The announcement of a regulatory change that will allow border agents to indefinitely detain immigrant families without legal documentation, thus annulling the agreement that forces detained minors to go free after 20 days, is another policy twist that seeks political benefit regardless of its legality. Trump has previously seen how the courts are doing away with similar initiatives concerning minors. His systematic attempt to subvert a 1997 ruling that guarantees a maximum detention time − a behavior which also contravenes the separation of powers − is leading the president to adopt measures that will cause unnecessary suffering to detainees, as well as to a new battle in the courts.

In this way, Trump has resurrected an idea, already set out in his campaign, which involves not only a constitutional change but also the modification of the very nature of American society. The president wants to annul the right to citizenship by birth that has been in place since 1868. To do this, he relies on the fallacy that the United States is the only country in the world that applies this law, when in fact it exists in almost every country in Central America and in 16% of all countries on this planet.