As of Friday, President Donald Trump has signed 89 executive orders throughout his second term to seal his policy agenda into practice. His first week in office, a dozen of these orders were issued to advance the deportation and detention of migrants. Of course, the president retains the right to issue executive orders as he sees fit. However, the movements the Trump administration has been making have been uninhibited to a degree uncharacteristic of U.S. presidents, breaking precedent and threatening immigrants throughout the country, even those who came here legally.
In January, Trump rescinded an Obama-era policy that largely blocked ICE from entering schools, places of worship and hospitals, claiming no damage has been done as no arrests have been made by ICE in schools. However, when the possibility of ICE entering a school exists in tandem with ICE raids occurring locally, there is no denying the impact on students. At a Denver school, for example, attendance dropped from 95% to 85% following nearby ICE raids.
Even then, not every child who has reason to fear ICE is out of school. Likely, many children of immigrants live in fear that they will return from school to an empty home, parents arrested. The emotional toll mass deportations take on children led 300 of the 900 students at the school in Denver to seek counseling, largely due to fears about deportations. This all creates a less-than-conducive learning environment at best.
At this point, the administration is clearly gaining its momentum, and although its direction is clear, it is hard to tell where it will end. The Alien Enemies Act of 1789 accelerates the detention and removal of immigrants when “a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government” exists. It also has the potential to affect their children.
Invoking the act is absolutely pivotal, as it has only been utilized three times since its passing: the War of 1812, World War I and World War II, in which it was used to rationalize Japanese internment. Trump claimed baselessly that Latin American cartels have taken over a Denver suburb and labeled illegal immigration as an invasion. The vast majority of the U.S. population has not lived in a time where this sort of law was enforced and will soon watch a history lesson play out right in front of them. Although presently blocked by a judge, the issue will now move through the legal system and has potential to reach the Supreme Court of the United States.
Alongside executive orders pertaining to immigration, Trump also takes aim at freedom of speech, specifically demonstrations at colleges and universities that do not align with his agenda. This puts students who take part in political organizing in a particularly vulnerable situation.
One such example is Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia and vocal pro-Palestine activist, who was arrested by ICE and accused of having pro-Hamas sympathies. Khalil is a permanent resident of the U.S. with a green card. This arrest of a prominent activist born outside of the U.S. but living in the U.S. permanently and legally signals a stark escalation in both Trump’s attack on freedom of expression and on immigrants.
Diversity and freedom of speech are supposed to be the two defining characteristics of the U.S., and although the country has not always upheld these attributes, this is different. It is different in how blunt these actions are. There are no smoke screens, no façades and absolutely no reservations with Trump. Although the gravity of the situation is clear, what comes next is still indiscernible.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post's executive editors: Editor-in-Chief Alyssa Cruz, Managing Editor Madalyn Blair and Equity Director McKenna Christy. Post editorials are independent of the publication's news coverage. The Post can be reached via editor@thepostathens.com.
