Make America White Again

It is probably no coincidence that the Trump administration has chosen to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council around the same time it introduced immigration control measures that  seem the exact kind of actions that would come under the purview of the Council. Separating children from their parents and then detaining he children in steel ringed camps was unreasonable and excessive. Withdrawing from the Human Rights Council would proved only a brief relief from the torrent of condemnation that followed revelations about children ripped away from parents at the US border.

Donald Trump claims his extreme anti immigration measures are designed to prevent America from being overrun by illegal immigrants. This seems a simplistic and racist feeding into right wing fears that the white American population will be exceeded by the population of people of colour at some point in the future. It is clear which people Trump has in mind when he paints his apocalyptic vision of an American future with foreigners running wild all over the land. He certainly doesn’t seem very concerned about the countless Europeans who are living in America illegally. Even the language he uses to describe non-caucasian migrants says a lot about his perception of them.

If Trump was truly interested in tackling illegal immigration then he would do more to tackle its causes. Businesses that hire migrant and seasonal workers could be given priority to apply for temporary visas for their workers. Some of the billions of dollars he wants to use to build walls could do a lot more good as development aid to neighbouring countries. At the very least he could have dialogue with his neighbours to look into migration and border security. Some cooperative efforts could go a long way to tackling the issue.