Trump and Immigration: Incompetence and Racism

I have been highlighting cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump's autocratic actions that threaten our democracy. For those who value the democratic traditions of our country, the threat of autocracy is enough to oppose Trump and his imposition of dictatorial practices. However, like autocratic regimes throughout history, the Trump administration is incompetent. In fact, one motivation of dictatorial rule is the fear of the rulers that their incompetence will be exposed. They don't want their actions to be questioned because they know that the answers to those questions will expose just how bad of a job they are doing. Another aspect of authoritarian rule is that, instead of being based on values and principles, governance serves those close to the rulers. Proximity to power becomes paramount to being provided government support. Over the weekend, two Trump administration initiatives were highlighted that showed both the administration's incompetence and its deference to those in favor with leading Trump officials. The first is the way in which the administration identifies members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The second is a Trump program called "Mission South Africa" that is aimed at encouraging the immigration of White Afrikaners from South Africa.

One of the few functioning components of our government is the Judicial Branch. Many of Trump's actions are currently tied up in court as a result of lawsuits against them. In the course of such litigation, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was able to obtain a copy of the "Alien Enemy Validation Guide" that Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement service is using to determine whether an individual is a member of Tren de Aragua. The administration has been deporting members of Tren de Aragua to a notoriously brutal prison in El Salvador. First, officials must determine that the individual is at least 14 years of age, is a Venezuelan citizen, and is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States. After that, the document provides a checklist of items, each having a numeric score. An individual is determined to be a member of Tren de Aragua if the combined score is at least 8. Under some circumstances, a score of 6 is sufficient.

One particularly problematic section of the checklist is the category labeled, "Symbolism". Items in this section allocate 4 points for having a tattoo that denotes membership or loyalty to Tren de Aragua, 2 points for social media posts displaying symbols of the gang, 2 points for displaying hand signs used by Tren de Aragua, and 4 points for displaying "insignia, logos, notations, drawings, or dress known to indicate allegiance" to the group. Tattoos are a particularly controversial issue because there is some dispute among experts about whether Tren de Aragua even uses gang tattoos. Among those already deported to El Salvador are a former professional soccer player whose tattoo his lawyer says is a tribute to the Real Madrid soccer club and another man who has an autistic brother and whose tattoo supports autism awareness. There are similar disputes regarding hand signs. The former soccer player, for instance, had a social media post showing him making a hand gesture that is sign language for "I love you." In theory, a single social media post in which a tattooed individual displayed his tattoo along with a hand gesture would be enough to earn the required 8 points that could send him to El Salvador. This is most likely exactly what happened with the former soccer player.

Other parts of the checklist also provide points for actions that may well be non-incriminating. For instance, 2 points for residing with a Tren de Aragua member, 6 points for communicating with a member of Tren de Aragua, and 3 points for having a financial transaction with a member of the gang. There is no requirement that the accused individual actually know that the other party is a gang member. Again, in theory, responding to a Craigslist ad to purchase an item from someone whom you had no idea was a Tren de Aragua member and then paying for the purchase would be enough to accumulate 9 points and a one-way ticket to El Salvador. Things get particularly problematic if this process starts to snowball. For instance, imagine one individual being misidentified on the basis of tattoos, hand signs, and social media posts. Then, anyone living with that person immediately gets 2 points, anyone having had a financial transaction with him gets 3 points, and anyone who has texted him gets 6 points. Those 6 points alone may be enough for deportation. It wouldn't take long to have a host of wrongly identified individuals.

Making this matter worse is the fact that the government is not allowing judicial review. There is no way for those who are wrongly identified to demonstrate their innocence. There is currently a temporary restraining order in effect halting further deportations while the right to judicial review is adjudicated. I suspect that if that case is decided in favor of judicial review, the utter incompetence of this administration and its many errors in identification will quickly come to light. However, the Trump administration may well be saved from that humiliation by their even greater incompetence. It may well turn out that the Alien Enemies Act, the law under which these deportations are taking place, is not even valid in these circumstances. The entire deportation program could be ruled unconstitutional.

At the opposite end of the immigration spectrum is the Trump-initiated "Mission South Africa", a program to encourage the immigration of White Afrikaners from South Africa to the United States. On Trump's first day in office of his second term, he signed an executive order suspending refugee admissions. This immediately prevented 20,000 refugees who had already been vetted and cleared for entry into the country from being allowed to travel to the U.S. The vast majority of those refugees were people of color. However, Trump made one exception to his refugee ban, not only allowing but encouraging White Afrikaners from South Africa to seek refugee status and immigrate to the U.S. As reported this weekend by the New York Times, U.S. government staff has established an office in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa. More than 8,200 requests are being considered, and already 100 Afrikaners have been identified for refugee status.

The Trump administration has perpetuated false information about the plight of White Afrikaner farmers in South Africa. White nationalists have argued that White Afrikaner farmers are victims of oppression in South Africa and made their plight a rallying cry. Many high-level Trump administration officials, possibly including Trump himself, have bought into this conspiracy theory. In reality, as the Times reports, "police statistics show they [White Afrikaners] are not any more vulnerable to violent crime than others in the country." Moreover, given that "white people own half of South Africa’s land while making up just 7 percent of the country’s population," White people in South Africa are doing pretty well. This has not prevented those like Shadow President Elon Musk, originally from South Africa himself, from making false claims such as saying that "white farmers in South Africa were being killed every day." There probably could not be a more clear-cut case of racism within the Trump administration than its actions to prevent the immigration of people of color while encouraging the immigration of White people and basing their entire justification on a racist conspiracy theory.

On the one hand, the Trump administration is using a flawed methodology to select Venezuelans for deportation to a brutal prison in El Salvador. On the other hand, based on a racist myth, the administration is encouraging the immigration of White Afrikaners from South Africa. Behavior of this sort is not unusual within authoritarian regimes where fear of the "other", especially foreigners, is often used to justify autocratic policies. In addition, dictatorial governments reward supporters and punish enemies. Rule of law has no meaning. With champions such as White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and Musk, White Afrikaners are a favored group. The obvious and blatant racism behind these policies is a feature, not a bug.

Update: Among the documents that the ACLU has been able to obtain from the government is  a questionnaire that an ICE agent completed when interviewing Andry Jose Hernandez Romero. Hernandez is a gay make-up artist who has repeatedly denied that he is a gang member. He is currently imprisoned in El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, CECOT. According to the ICE questionnaire, Hernandez was identified as a Tren de Aragua member due to two tattoos, one on each wrist, which portrayed crowns. One had "mom" written above it and the other had "dad" ascribed above it. This resulted in Hernandez being given 5 points. This makes no sense because, according to the ICE checklist described above, a tattoo should only count for 4 points. Moreover, at least 8 points in most circumstances are required to designate someone as a gang member. Nevertheless, the document concludes that Hernandez is an "associate' of Tren de Aragua because a crown is an identifier for the group. 

This case highlights almost everything that is wrong with the ICE process for identifying Tren de Aragua members and why judicial oversight is desperately needed. Hernandez does not meet the required 8 points. The interviewer ignores that crown tattoos can have different meanings. Nothing else about Hernandez suggests gang membership, unless there is a gang of gay make-up artists about which I haven't heard.