Trump ramps up attacks on migrants—and tries to punish Harvard

Protests against deportations in Texas earlier this year (pic: mikhail.kelner on flickr)

United States president Donald Trump is carrying out a remorseless assault on migrants.

Last week Trump met with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa after allowing 59 white South Africans into the US with refugee status.

Trump is echoing Elon Musk’s myth that large numbers of white South Africans are being hunted and murdered. Trade talks between the US and South Africa were overshadowed by Trump’s Oval Office ambush over these discredited claims.

While the US accepts white South Africans as refugees, people from Afghanistan see their asylum claims refused. It is especially cruel considering that in the same week Trump attempted to deport a group of men to South Sudan.

The African country is on the brink of civil war. It faces a humanitarian crisis, with high levels of diseases such as cholera and an increasing risk of starvation. The Trump administration also wants to deport people to Libya and Rwanda.

Removing people to war-torn countries and those with human rights violations is a tactic to instil fear. It is a threat used to stop anyone from daring to come at all.

The Trump administration paid El Salvador over £12 million to incarcerate hundreds of Venezuelans in grim mass prisons. They are denied contact with lawyers or their families.

Trump lifted protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants who had some right to live or work in the US. Some 350,000 Venezuelans alone have had their right to remain threatened. And hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans have also had their protection ripped from them.

New Trump orders mean that long-term visa holders could have their protection revoked. Some 13 million people can be ­targeted for removal regardless of their legal status. Some of those deported are US citizens.

This can also be seen in the removal of protection for those fleeing persecution. The asylum process in the US is already incredibly difficult—some 79 percent of applicants have their request denied.

And Trump is now taking the battle over immigration to US universities. The Trump administration accused Harvard of not doing enough to tackle antisemitism. It tried to punish the elite university by stopping all enrolment of international students. They make up 27 percent of the student population.

Harvard sued for a “blatant ­violation” of the US constitution. And federal judge Allison Burroughs temporarily blocked the move last week. A number of lawsuits are being taken out against Trump’s administration for a range of breaches ­relating to deportations.

But ultimately, this cannot be fought through the law. A fight against racism cannot solely rely on the apparatus of the state. Hundreds of thousands of people have come out on the streets in opposition to Trump. Now there needs to be a struggle on the streets and in workplaces to defend the rights of migrants.