From campaign promises about building a “wall” (and asking Mexico to help pay for it) to constantly offending immigrants and other minority groups, we’ve reached a point where it comes as no surprise when the Trump administration engages in another attack against immigrants. It’s as if Trump is on a crusade against allowing anyone new from entering the country — except maybe the Finnish, he said in his latest anti-immigration episode.
Addressing many sanctuary cities across the country, the Justice Department — following through on orders from Congress — threatened Wednesday to deny millions of dollars in grant money to sanctuary cities across the country if they refused to comply with federal immigration officials. The city of Lawrence was one of two New England towns that received a letter from the DOJ asking them to turn over information showing they aren’t withholding information about residents’ immigration status or those in custody.
Lawrence’s mayor, Daniel Rivera, expressed anger about receiving the letter. In the past, the City has complied with federal authorities on these matters, and claimed the City had nothing to hide from officials. This letter was an attack on the town and its growing immigrant population. Lawrence is a diverse city, with Hispanic people making up 76 percent of the town’s population. The city has just started to get back on its feet after dealing with years of financial troubles that have drained the town’s resources. Such a letter only strains relationships between residents in the town, which has been seeing financial and city-wide progress in recent years.
Furthermore, in response to the threatening letter from the DOJ, many mayors boycotted a meeting with President Trump Wednesday afternoon. Trump’s response to the boycott only added to the the misinformed narrative of portraying American citizens as innocent and lawful and immigrants as criminal and inherently unlawful. The president’s exact remarks, saying that the sanctuary cities’ mayors are placing “criminal illegal immigrants over law-abiding Americans,” plays into the scare tactic Trump’s administration loves to employ. Trump uses the patriotic sentiment of protecting America to galvanize support. However, this isn’t a new strategy, especially in a time of political turmoil and divisiveness. Such a tactic echoes themes from Nixon’s “law and order” campaign theme back in the 1970s that sought to ensure the safety of Americans. At this point in our country’s history, it’s a scare tactic that’s overdone and needs to stop.
But the fact that such rhetoric isn’t going away anytime soon shows how easily Americans subscribe to the Trump’s anti-immigration and dangerously patriotic messages — a troubling factor all together when thinking about the divided state of our nation.
And the tactic to refuse to provide grant money to these towns — specifically money that would go toward the upkeep of the police force — is another example of an misuse of power. While past presidents and judicial authorities have certainly used this strategy in the past, something about this is deeply unsettling, mainly because it does not follow a logical train of thought. If the government is withholding money that would fund law enforcement including payment for police overtime, how will these cities’ police forces be able to effectively carry out their jobs as those responsible for overseeing undocumented immigration? Such a strategy seems counterintuitive to Trump’s goal of stopping undocumented immigration and working to secure the border.
How will the local police react to all of this? If resources are being stripped away from them, it’s very likely that dynamics between police and immigrants will change for the worse. Police could end up resenting immigrants, and blaming the people in their communities for their lack of funding rather than the man responsible for instituting this unrest and perpetuating hate — Donald Trump.
Whether or not police will actually channel their frustration toward immigrants or other minorities is a smaller result in the larger reality — or nightmare — that is the hatred toward anyone that Trump doesn’t see as “American.” What we can take away from this new episode in the Trump regime is that more of this rhetoric continues to appeal to supporters of the president. Trump’s supporters will continue to take his messages, aggravating the divisiveness permeating the nation right now.
