Trump initiates promised immigration policy

Invasion becomes synonymous with immigration as President Donald Trump’s new immigration policies tackle undocumented immigrants. Tears stream down the faces of those who realize their safety is suddenly compromised with the threat of deportation. How is Trump working to address one of his largest campaign promises?

Under Trump’s administration, policies have been put into place to increase troops at the southern border and to authorize authorities to go into public spaces, such as schools and churches, to arrest undocumented immigrants.

In response to Trump’s actions, CVUSD has instructed staff to refer ICE officials to the office in the scenario that they come on campus.

“We are steadfast in our commitment to our students’ academics and social emotional wellbeing and their safety. California law protects our students’ rights to education regardless of their immigration status,” said Superintendent Parvin Ahmadi.

Additionally, after the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office stated that officers will “not collect immigration status related data of any kind,” school board representative Michael Kusiak responded with gratitude, criticizing the “domestic terrorism actions of the Trump administration.”

There’s only one significant word in the administration’s dictionary that would make Trump’s policies perfectly legal: invasion. 

“It’s been widely understood that the president has inherent constitutional authority to repel sudden attacks or invasions,” said Elizabeth Goiten, a director at the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Using invasion as justification for eviction, Trump is able to cut off asylum and invoke the Alien Enemies Act which would allow him to deport any non-citizens, especially if they are suspected of running drug cartels. 

While mass deportation seems improbable, if Trump uses the Department of Defense’s military resources to build detention centers at military bases, it may in fact become a perfectly legal reality.

“I feel like this is going to really endanger my grandpa because he’s trying to permanently live in America to live with us, but it’s scary to think there’s a real possibility he will get deported because he’s not a U.S. citizen,” said a Campbell Middle school student whose grandpa is a foreign immigrant.

“I don’t think that students should have a say in politics, especially currently when 95% of our school population cannot vote and they don’t have actual say on the issues because of that. I don’t think that people of this age are educated enough on these issues to take a proper stance,” says junior Kasey Mulato. 

Currently, Trump is using a detention center at Guantanamo Bay that was previously used to hold 9/11 terrorists. Guantanamo Bay is a military installation in Cuba that allows the U.S. government to waive the constitutional rights of detainees because they are not on American territory, but for immigrants already on American territory and allowed to seek asylum, it proves difficult for the government to ensure their rights remain.  

It is still unclear what the next four years will look like for immigrants having to deal with Trump’s policies, but an underlying question still floats around: will Trump succeed in ending birthright citizenship?

Trump issued an executive order to end birthright citizenship for people whose parents are not citizens. However, this policy is controversial because it interferes with the 14th Amendment that guarantees birthright citizenship. 

“We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States, with all of those benefits,” said Trump.

With millions of livelihoods at stake, only time will tell what happens to America’s large population of undocumented immigrants.