Police Jackets and a Piece of Paper

Police Jackets and a Piece of Paper: The Paradox of Immigration Enforcement

 I am a loyal diet Coke drinker. Not Coke Zero, Pepsi or Dr. Pepper. I want diet Coke, in a small plastic bottle, because I can sip on it all day and it retains its brown, fizzy, aspartamey flavor. Now let’s assume that the diet Pepsi marketing gurus embark on a social media campaign, and target loyal, diet Coke drinkers like me. As I scroll on Instagram, they hit me with ads that call diet Coke “poison,” and diet Pepsi an “elixir.” Over and over, I am exposed to these ads. I am a skeptical person, especially for ads, but the repetition of the message inevitably makes me question if I really am drinking poison. Suddenly, my cute diet Coke bottle looks more ominous. Do I feel a pang in my stomach after taking a few sips? Are my teeth looking discolored? Whether or not I become a Pepsi drinker would remain to be seen, but just a simple, persistent ad campaign could erode my belief in my beloved diet Coke, despite my firmly held belief that diet Coke has a superior taste, with optimal fizziness. 

Imagine, then, at a more sophisticated, strategic, campaign to create a political image that is tough on undocumented immigrants. The people waiting to cross the southern border to seek asylum are “invaders.” ICE is conducting “raids.” Immigrants are all “criminals.” This kind of language was present through President Donald Trump’s successful run for an eventual 2nd term, and it was likely one reason he was elected. In fact, the language he used during his run made it seem like the Republicans were the only ones doing anything against illegal immigration, while the Democrats were letting millions flood across the border. According to a historical survey conducted by the CATO Institute in 2019, Democrats deported more illegal immigrants than Republicans since 2000. There are a lot of factors to this, especially what was happening in the world at various times, as well as shifts in political pressures, but the numbers are interesting. George W. Bush deported 2,012,539 over the course of his 2 terms, while Barack Obama deported 3,066,457. Donald Trump executed around the same numbers as Joe Biden in his first term, around 1.5 million. According to the language he used during his campaign, though, you would have thought he was the only one who believed illegal immigrants to be the invaders he wants you to think they are.

What Trump and the Republicans have become adept at is changing the narrative to benefit their agenda. Even if at first you find their language objectionable, with enough repetition, you can start becoming more numb to it. I would not believe the first 5 ads on Instagram telling me that my diet Coke was poison, but after 15 impressions of that, I might start questioning my beliefs. Since January 20th, Trump’s administration has made some very swift actions to curb immigration. He shut down the CBP One app that allowed people to start the legal immigration process right on inauguration day. He enacted multiple raids in cities through the U.S. to arrest illegal immigrants. He sent military planes full of deportees to Mexico, Columbia and other countries. It has been a bit of a shock and awe assault.

The big question is, will Trump’s administration be able to keep up this momentum? Will there continue to be these “raids” and deportation flights? Or will the administration’s focus shift away from immigration and onto other parts of the agenda? 

What would you prefer?  

https://www.cato.org/blog/deportation-rates-historical-perspective

Table 1

Removals Per President

President	Removals	Removals Per Year	Political Party	Years in Office
Benjamin Harrison	2,801	2,801	Republican	1
Grover Cleveland	9,069	2,267	Democrat	4
William McKinley	17,642	3,528	Republican	5
Theodore Roosevelt	76,390	10,913	Republican	7
William H. Taft	83,150	20,788	Republican	4
Woodrow Wilson	162,371	20,296	Democrat	8
Warren G. Harding	60,652	20,217	Republican	3
Calvin Coolidge	164,913	32,983	Republican	5
Herbert Hoover	110,275	27,569	Republican	4
Franklin D. Roosevelt	171,939	13,226	Democrat	13
Harry S. Truman	140,553	20,079	Democrat	7
Dwight D. Eisenhower	110,019	13,752	Republican	8
John F. Kennedy	23,969	7,990	Democrat	3
Lyndon B. Johnson	48,737	9,747	Democrat	5
Richard M. Nixon	81,022	16,204	Republican	5
Gerald R. Ford	82,316	27,439	Republican	3
Jimmy Carter	105,378	26,345	Democrat	4
Ronald Reagan	168,364	21,046	Republican	8
George Bush	141,326	35,332	Republican	4
Bill Clinton	869,646	108,706	Democrat	8
George W. Bush	2,012,539	251,567	Republican	8
Barack Obama	3,066,457	383,307	Democrat	8
Donald J. Trump	551,449	275,725	Republican	2