Immigration Reform Can Help Revive Democracy
Six days after instigating an insurrection that led to the death of a police officer, President Trump traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to try to resurrect his image as a law-and-order president.
This is a fitting end to a presidency that began with a descent down a golden escalator in 2015. Then-candidate Trump claimed, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best.… They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”
Based on the rhetoric and policies of the Trump administration, it’s no surprise that hate crimes against Latinos and Asians have steadily increased in recent years. Anti-Hispanic hate crimes rose 8.7 percent from 2018 to 2019, the fourth straight year of escalating numbers. One group tallied 2,583 anti-Asian hate incidents just between March and August of 2020.
Don’t think that once Trump leaves office, his focus on immigrants and immigration will wane. As a Biden administration begins to reverse Trump’s immigration policies, the disgraced former president will lead his forces as a battering ram against democracy, and anti-immigrant sentiment has animated his base from day one.
