The Making of a Criminal Migrant
One of the greatest political deceptions in modern history has come to fruition, and the White House is struggling to meet the moment it created with its immigration culture war
The Trump administration pulled off one of the greatest deceptions in modern history, second only to the trickery that led us into the war on terror and the passage of the ensuing Patriot Act, by convincing people that so-called “criminal” migrants need to be deported. The Trump camp and Republicans successfully weaponized a handful of crimes and villainized entire populations of various Latino groups; the Latinophobic nature of it all surfaced quickly. Before you knew it, the country was parroting bogus anti-immigrant ideas criminalizing non-citizens.
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Even some liberal pundits fell for it and agreed that yes, criminals should be deported. But no one defined what a “criminal migrant” was. We all knew there was no migrant crime wave, that millions of migrants weren’t pouring across the border, and certainly that there was no invasion happening. It was all bluster. We all know immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native born U.S. citizens, and yet, people fall for the migrants are criminals schtick every time.
Suddenly, anyone who was previously referred to as “undocumented” was being equated with “illegal,” and people began to push the narrative that if a migrant crossed the border between points of entry, which many assume is illegal, they should be deported. However, it’s not that simple, because most of them are “legal” immigrants. Anytime an issue becomes oversimplified, it remains largely misunderstood. Crossing the border anywhere to claim asylum is legal.
Do people file bogus asylum claims? Sure, but rarely. However, the vast majority of so-called “undocumented” immigrants are, in fact, documented and legal if they have pending paperwork or a pending case. Meanwhile, millions are here legally with no pathway to citizenship. They are spouses, mothers, fathers, and children, and based on the Trump administration’s recent actions, potential targets for deportation via some dubious criminalization to justify it.
Despite the attempts at bypassing due process, and citizens being rounded up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions due to much chaos created by the influx of agents from various federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, the Trump administration set a new quota demanding 3,000 arrests per day to meet their vision of what mass deportations should look like; to use inhumanity as a deterrent as much as possible, no matter the harm caused.
To achieve those numbers, and since the Trump administration failed to live up to the migrant crime wave that included gangs taking over apartment complexes and eating your pets, it has to now create as many deportable noncitizens as possible by issuing Notice to Appear orders. When noncitizens show up in court, the Department of Justice (DOJ) drops their cases, highlighting one of many policies making hundreds of thousands of migrants vulnerable at a time.
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The administration has the DOJ dropping noncitizens' cases because they offer protections against deportations. By doing so, migrants can immediately be taken into custody by ICE agents in waiting and placed in expedited removal proceedings. It has also successfully begun removing Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of Afghans and a total of 850,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, as decided in separate cases.
As the administration continues to violate the human rights of civilians, both citizens and not, it is escalating its efforts despite the failure of its propaganda machine. Citizens are pushing back against militarized federal police, supported by their local cops, roaming around in armored vehicles, carrying military style weapons, in their communities to take migrants who are not a threat into custody. No one wants the appearance of a war zone in their neighborhood.
But with the Trump administration deploying Marines and National Guard in Los Angeles and still seeking over 20,000 National Guard soldiers to assist with its deportation efforts, we’re inching closer to seeing the military on our streets everywhere, even if just in a “support role,” as the administration suggests. Meanwhile, White House officials are again equating everything from domestic terrorism to Trump’s odor (probably) with immigration.
Last week, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it would begin targeting visa overstays after the recent attack in Boulder, Colorado. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) even took Mohammed Solima’s family into custody. There is no established connection, allegations, or justification for the family to be disrupted any further after the tragedy. But for the Trump administration, it’s about being as cruel as possible.
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ICE detained Hayam Salah Alsaid Ahmed El Gamal, Soliman’s wife, Habiba Mohamed Sabry Farag Soliman, Soliman’s 18-year-old daughter, and two minor sons and two minor daughters, and is processing them for removal. DHS suggests that all are citizens of Egypt. While Soliman and his family's visas had expired, as reported by far-right goons, he applied for asylum for the entire family five months before the expiration, according to DHS.
“DHS and ICE have taken the family of suspected Boulder, Colorado, terrorist, and illegal alien, Mohamed Soliman, into ICE custody. This terrorist will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it. I am continuing to pray for the victims of this attack and their families. Justice will be served.”
A federal judge blocked the immediate deportation of the family. Lawyers representing the family pulled no punches in denouncing the detention of the family after the judge's decision.
“Punishing individuals—including children as young as four years old—for the purported actions of their relatives is a feature of medieval justice systems or police state dictatorships, not democracies,” said lead counsel for El Gamal and her children, Eric Lee, via a statement. “The Trump administration’s vindictive attack on this young family echoes the methods of Nazi Germany, where authorities used kin punishment—Sippenhaft—to intimidate the population. The detention and attempted removal of this family is an assault on core democratic principles and must provoke widespread opposition in the population, immigrant and non-immigrant alike,” Lee continued.
Meanwhile, the anti-immigrant focus of the current Republican party is coming at a huge cost and does nothing to reform the antiquated, bloated system we currently have. Instead, they’re focused on enforcement and incarceration without providing any tangible solutions to create a more humane process. What the party is after has little to do with immigration and everything to do with Christian white nationalism.
A destructive issue that we can’t talk about enough.
Arturo is an independent journalist whose work can be found at Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, and more. Arturo is also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support his work, become a paid subscriber or donate via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.
40+ armed ICE & BP plus a helicopter at a swap meet in Santa Fe Springs on Father’s Day. Some folks pulled out of. Porti-Potty? And for what? 20+ people? The strawberries are rotting in the fields here because farmworkers are afraid to go to work. How do they earn money to feed their families? What the fuck is wrong with this country? What are the numbers for white criminals roaming the streets? I am so tired of this bullshit.
It goes back to "the cruelty is the point." It is unconscionable that people are going through the process, showing up to court dates and having their cases dropped and being immediately deported; a horrible and cruel trick when adhering to the law. Targeting places like the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet on Father's Day or graduations and gatherings is beyond egregious. The racism is so palpable. One only has to be online and read chat comments while streaming various protests to read the abject bigotry of those who write "deport them all." We have been living with the collective demonization and inhumanity of the orange man and his administration for too long. Every day is an anxiety inducing nightmare that we cannot awaken from. Thank you for your perspective, insight and reporting.