Update on the Trump Administration’s Anti-Migrant Policies and the Resistance to Violations of Liberty

The Trump Administration, after claiming it had no legal control over hundreds of Venezuelan refugees it had deported without due process to El Salvador, despite a contractual arrangement that obligated the United States to pay for their incarceration in a Salvadoran prison built for “terrorists,” where they were confined in inhumane conditions that clearly violated human rights, has exchanged the Venezuelan refugees for Americans held by Venezuela. I have posted that El Salvador’s right-wing populist pro-Trump President has become increasingly authoritarian, as human rights organizations have observed. The Central American State’s Head of State is in his second term, despite a constitutional limit of one term, as I have posted. Thus, the Venezuelan refugees, who were baselessly accused of membership in gangs, but never criminally charged, were used as bargaining chips in exchange for Americans held by Venezuela’s Socialist dictatorship, which, therefore, was a propaganda victory for Venezuela. The oppressive South American State’s regime was able to portray itself as rescuing its countrymen from persecution caused by the U.S. and its ally. The Trump Administration’s deportations of Venezuelan and Afghan refugees seeking asylum, for example, undermine U.S. foreign policy because the U.S. justly condemns and sanctions dictatorships for repression, but deporting refugees with a credible fear of persecution contradicts the policy, as the deportations falsely imply the refugees’ fear is baseless. Instead of targeting its efforts against those who are a security threat, the Trump Administration, is deporting migrants while they are shopping, attending school, seeking employment, working, receiving medical care, attending religious services at places of worship, attending legal and immigration hearings, and even appearing for naturalization process appointments. The Administration is thereby discouraging these activities, which, in some cases, represent a violation of freedom. In one extraordinary response to Trump Administration raids in churches, the Roman Catholic Bishop of San Bernardino is exempting Catholics from the obligation to attend Mass in his California Diocese if they have a genuine fear of being deported. Discouraging migrants from attending their immigration hearings or naturalization process is counterproductive to the Trump Administration’s claimed goal of enforcement of immigration laws, but reveals the true purpose of demagogy based on xenophobia. I have been posting how Christian and other religious organizations, secular human rights organizations, immigration lawyers, businesses, communities and States have resisted the Administration’s anti-migrant policies. As I have noted, the violation of the freedom and rights of any person is a threat to the violation of the freedom and rights of everyone, as Americans believe that every human has a birthright of liberty.