International
Trump’s Migration Measures: Comprehensive Deportations and Colossal Holding Facilities
Former U.S. President Donald Trump (2017-2021), a favorite to be the Republican candidate in the November elections, has made it clear that if he returns to the White House, his immigration policy will go beyond the famous border wall that propelled him to the presidency in 2016.
In his campaign rallies, he has adopted strong anti-immigrant rhetoric, going as far as to claim that foreigners “poison” the blood of the U.S. and proposing plans ranging from mass deportations to the construction of giant centers to detain undocumented migrants.
Mass Deportations, Trump’s Promise
Trump has repeatedly promised at his campaign events that, if he returns to the presidency, he will carry out the “largest deportation operation” in U.S. history.
To do so, the federal government would seek help from reservists of the National Guard, detailed Stephen Miller, the chief ideologue of Trump’s xenophobic proposals, just three days ago during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the major gathering of the American right.
According to Miller, Trump would deploy the military to the border to deny entry to those who need to apply for asylum and would automatically deport those who attempt to cross into Mexico.
Trump has cited as an example of this type of deportation the so-called ‘Operation Wetback’, executed in 1954 by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961), which resulted in the deportation of over a million people, mostly Mexicans.
According to historian Mae Ngai in her book ‘Impossible Subjects’, the deportations were brutal, with some Mexicans repatriated in what could easily have been an “18th-century slave ship,” while others died of sunstroke after being abandoned by U.S. authorities in the desert.
Giant Centers to Detain Migrants
To execute this apocalyptic operation, Trump’s campaign has hinted at its plans to build large centers to detain migrants and then expel them from the United States.
The idea would be to establish “large-scale” facilities where migrants would wait to be deported with scheduled expulsion flights continuously, explained Stephen Miller at the CPAC conference, who previously advised Trump during his presidency and could return to the White House.
However, the legality of these centers could be challenged in court, as happened with some of Trump’s more radical plans when he was in the White House.
Anticipating these legal challenges, Trump has promised to invoke a section of the immigration and sedition laws passed by Congress in 1789, which give the president greater power to deport and detain individuals who are not U.S. citizens in times of war.
This law was used during World War II by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) to establish internment camps where thousands of Japanese migrants and their U.S.-born descendants were detained.
Trump’s campaign has not specified how many migrants would be subject to these policies. However, it is estimated that there are currently 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
Family Separation
Trump has also not ruled out the possibility of separating migrant families again, a policy he implemented during his time in the White House.
During an appearance on CNN last year, Trump admitted that the idea of separating families “sounds tough,” but then added: “When you tell families that if they come we’re going to separate them, they don’t come. And we can’t afford to have more.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for migration, has acknowledged that 4,227 children were separated from their families during the Trump administration.
Following the inauguration of President Joe Biden in January 2021, a task force was created to address this issue, and according to a DHS report from November 2023, 3,147 children have already been reunited with their parents.
Biden’s reelection campaign has sounded the alarm about Trump’s policies and has described his immigration plans as “racist, anti-American, and ineffective.”
“It’s just cheap politics,” said Maca Casado, the director of Hispanic media for the campaign.
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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