Trump’s immigration plan reeks of fascism

President Donald Trump’s deportation of immigrants to El Salvador demonstrates his proclivity for inhumanity. He is only interested in treating them as villains to Americans, without actually fixing the immigration process.

The immigration plan Trump executed is proving to be egregiously impractical and cruel.

This administration overlooks immigrants as the backbone of the American economy. Undocumented workers make up 44% of agriculture jobs and there are 30,680,600 immigrant workers in the labor force. They single-handedly prop up major industries without receiving basic labor protections like the right to unionize, overtime pay or unemployment benefits.

The administration has arrested 113,000 migrants and deported more than 100,000 since Trump took office.

This administration doesn’t care about immigrants’ positive impact on the economy and only views them as criminals looking to take jobs away from “real” Americans. It costs around $14,000 to deport one individual, not including how much it costs to house detainees when ICE runs out of room at deportation facilities.

By prioritizing cruelty over humanity, the American people will suffer the economic consequences of this egregious plan.

In early Feb. 2025, the federal Bureau of Prisons determined they would accept and house thousands of immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This isn’t a normal practice; it’s a consequence of the administration’s poor planning and disregard for immigrants' rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration in Aug. 2020, for the removal of children who sought asylum and sued his administration again this March over the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act.

Passed in 1798, the act states the president may apprehend, restrain and remove citizens of a foreign country if said country engages in an invasion or predatory incursion against the United States.

The invocation of the Alien Enemies Act shows Trump’s commitment to stretching the law in any way to ensure migrants aren’t granted human and constitutional rights.

Under the Alien Enemies Act, Trump transferred several hundred immigrants to El Salvador and Honduras, even after a federal judge issued an order blocking the transportation of the migrants.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele tweeted the phrase, “oopsie,” with a crying-laughing emoji and U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio embarrassingly reposted the tweet, endorsing and adopting Bukele’s mockery of U.S law.

Since they are no longer on American soil, ICE strips migrants of basic human rights, including the guarantee of due process or legal counsel, in international prisons. Every case is different, but most migrants only face civil proceedings, not criminal ones. This is the administration tactically hindering the minimal protections migrants have.

The Center for Terrorism Confinement, where the United States sent migrants, is notorious for its depravity and inhumane housing conditions.

Americans are seeing the real-world repercussions of these hastily thrown-together transfers and deportations.

The Trump Administration wrongfully sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a legal resident since 2011, to El Salvador on March 15, 2025. Officials wrongfully accuse Garcia of being an MS-13 gang member without evidence.

His attorney repeatedly denied the accusations and a federal judge ordered immigration officials to bring Garcia back to the U.S. by April 7, 2025. On the day of his ordered return, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to block the order in a last-minute grasp to maintain any semblance of credibility.

The administration initially claimed the mix-up was an “administrative error,” but Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem countered with a lawsuit, saying the U.S. doesn’t have the authority to request his extradition back to the country.

Garcia’s and many others’ health and safety hang in the balance of the Trump administration. Experiencing the conditions these individuals have been subjected to would be traumatic and abolish any chance of returning to a normal life. All this for the administration to demonstrate how “tough and stern” they are going to be on immigration.

Initially, Trump was going to utilize the Guantanamo Bay naval base to house 30,000 detained migrants, but the plan eventually fell apart, as expected. Trump transported around 400 migrants to the facility in March, just to send them back to the U.S. after two months.

People have long debated if Guantanamo is suitable to house terrorists, let alone alleged gang members. The base has been under scrutiny for countless years due to repeated human rights violations, such as keeping prisoners there for long periods without conviction or a planned trial.

Not only was the plan immoral but also a logistical mess.

This little trip to Cuba cost the U.S. government $40 million by the end of March. For an administration supposedly focused on slashing government spending on “non-essentials,” this was a very wasteful move by the White House.

It seems Trump is now open to accepting some migrants, they just have to buy a $5 million “gold card” immigrant visa. This gimmick is an embarrassing display from the administration. It shows other countries that the United States’ morals and principles are for sale with a literal “get out of jail free card.”

Individuals and families who come to America come to build a better life for themselves and their children. It’s clearly difficult for Trump to understand: all people are human and deserve to be treated as such, regardless of what country they come from.