Trump’s New Immigration Enforcement is a Disaster for Criminal Justice Reform

Both of Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns were highly controversial and explicitly tailored to their times. In 2016, Trump ran on the promise of a border wall “paid for by Mexico”- an addendum added after his Republican base showed concern about government spending. In 2024, with a stage set of extreme global anti-immigrant ideology, Trump’s campaign became about his plans for mass deportation- the removal of millions of illegal immigrants that he and his base call “illegals” “aliens” and “migrants”. Deportations under other presidents are nothing new- with hundreds of thousands of immigrants lacking paperwork sent back under Obama and Biden, but Trump’s rhetoric, the zeal and bigotry of his administration and base, and his criminal justice policy are proving to be disastrous for Americans just weeks into his second term. 

For more than a week now, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has continued to raid homes and public places rounding up anyone they suspect of being “illegal’ or without paperwork. Those lacking the correct credentials have been forced into hiding, with reports of California citrus farms, normally staffed by immigrants with less than formal paperwork, avoiding their workplace out of fear of detainment and deportation. Experts worry about the impact these raids will have on the American food supply chain, as springtime emerges and seasonal crops are ready for harvest, especially after Trump’s threat of tariffs on all international goods. The ICE sweeps have been accused of being racialized, with several Puerto Rican citizens among the detained who are forced to prove their American nationality, including a veteran in New Jersey. There are also reports of Native Americans being detained. 

The overwhelming issue is this: Trump’s policies are harmful in many ways- but they are especially a disaster for Criminal Justice policy, which is already incredibly harmful and has led to the largest number of incarcerated people per capita. 

Trump’s new White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to questions about how many of the arrested immigrants had criminal records- as opposed to being detained simply because they are in the country illegally. “All of them,” she replied. The pervasive attitude that is incredibly dangerous about illegal immigrants is that they are criminals, but it is especially harmful to equate their breaking of immigration law to breaking violent criminal codes. Treating illegal immigration the same way that we treat violence, murder, and drug distributions makes it acceptable to penalize those committing those very different indiscretions. For one, vital segments of the American economy rely on illegal immigration- from home health care to agriculture. The propaganda that illegal immigrants consume government benefits such as food stamps, free healthcare, and cheaper housing are factually incorrect, and yet have been touted as fact by Trump’s campaign and its supporters. 

This rhetoric has led to extreme policies by Trump, who last week signed an executive order to open a camp on Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, a long controversial U.S. military outpost used to house extrajudicial prisoners who are not afforded American rights by virtue of not being on American soil. Guantanamo is considered by many to be a stain on the American values of freedom and democracy, and Obama, during his campaign, promised to close down the prison. Yet, after his presidency began, he reneged on this promise, and after his 2 terms, the prison remained open and was not even a main focus of the conversation in neither Trump nor Biden’s presidential campaigns.

 Now, Trump’s agenda to reopen the prison sparks a worrying question about the prison’s future. For many, a prison with the capacity of 30,000, as Trump has promised, is a worrying indication of the numbers the president hopes to incarcerate. The size and capacity of the prison seem similar to Japanese concentration camps, where U.S. residents were sent to live without due process or even being tried for a crime. Guantanamo’s history includes top secret torture techniques and interogation centers, sparking concerns that the venue under U.S. military could be used in similiar ways against incarcerated immigrants. 

More updates about how exactly Trump plans on using the facilities at Guantanamo Bay will be available in the weeks to come- but it’s very clear that Trump’s immigration policies are not just inhumane, but also a disaster of domestic criminal justice policy. For many on both sides of the aisle, America’s large scale prison operations are a waste of taxpayer dollars, as well as a shameful reminder of our disastrous prison policy. With all the cuts that the Trump administration is making in the name of government productivity and lowering the national debt, this is another project that, in our opinion, should be scrapped. In the meantime, domestic immigration issues being treated as a military project is a huge crisis that must be addressed.