source: @DonMiami3 on X

Trump’s ICE raids feel performative as the actual number of illegal immigrants deported is not that much. For a while, ICE was releasing illegal immigrants due to limited capacity in detention spaces. There is this performative cruelty of singling out a small number of people as a deterrent or to scare migrants to self-deport. Just deport a completely random set of people, but not many in actual numbers, and then heavily publicize it to set a warning for future migrants. The essence of Trump is about the spectacle rather than substance. However, Trump’s one area of success is that new border crossings are at the lowest level in decades.

source: @napoleon21st on X

Not only has Trump not deported that many illegal immigrants, but he recently declared an amnesty for illegal immigrants in agriculture and the leisure and hospitality industry. Trump is making a declaration that businesses that openly flout US immigration law will face no consequences. Business interests are pressuring Trump to rein in the crackdowns and this amnesty is a giveaway to his donors and friends in the hotel industry. The other issue is that mass deportations will cause an economic shock on top of the tariffs and the war between Israel and Iran. However, Trump made another pivot the same day he announced an amnesty, posting “All illegal aliens have to GO HOME,” much like he has flip-flopped on the tariffs.

source:@RT_com on X

Trump’s greatest sellout has been on legal immigration policy. For instance, Trump recently agreed to allow half a million Chinese students to come to America in exchange for a trade deal on rare earth minerals, praised the h1b visa program, and is selling off US citizenship to foreign oligarchs under his gold card visa program. A lot of immigration restrictionists were hoping that Trump would get tougher on legal immigration after his breakup with Elon, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

source: @disclosetv on X

source: @USTechWorkers on X

source: @AnthonySabatini on X

The most effective way to do deportations is not to make a show out of it but rather to encourage self-deportation using employer sanctions rather than raids and mass arrests. Ideally, I support something like the Swiss canton system where each community would have the authority to screen to admit or reject new immigrants. Leftwing districts can grant residency to undocumented immigrants while other communities might decide to ban immigrants or have a Whites only policy. I predict the GOP will end up favoring the Dubai model, where immigrants and their descendants are exploited for labor but barred from citizenship, as a compromise between capitalists and nationalists.

source: @TheWorthyHouse on X

source: @Black_Pilled on X

The Trump administration, under the guise of cracking down on illegal immigration, is teaming up with Palantir to create this massive centralized surveillance database of everyone, including US citizens. Trump also said that he wants to send American criminals to prison in El Salvador, which even if just empty rhetoric, should scare people. It would devalue the sacredness of US citizenship, implying that Americans are no different from criminal aliens. It would also not surprise me if Trump tried to send some of the anti-Israel foreign protesters to El Salvador, as MAGA has been trying to link anti-ICE protests to Hamas.

source: @AFpost on X

source: @WallStreetApes on X

Trump did little to quell the BLM riots which were far worse than the current anti-ICE protests, though the current protests could escalate. The Right is pissed off at how petty and authoritarian the Left acted under Biden, and Biden leaving the border open, and now they want revenge and Trump needs to appear strong. However, I don’t see the anti-ICE protests as anything more than a metaphorical dick waving competition with the Mexicans waving their brown dicks around and then Trump trying to lord his orange dick over them.

source: @tombelaviv on X

Trump used the Alien Enemies Act to send illegal immigrants to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador and has threatened to suspend Habeas Corpus. In many cases, the deportees were not even convicted of a crime other than being in the country illegally. While immigrating to America is a privilege and we have a right to kick people out, denying them all due process, such as sending them to a foreign prison without trial, is atrocious and authoritarian. I am saying this as someone who generally supports tougher immigration laws and reducing immigration levels.

There is the case of Andry José Hernandez Romero, a Venezuelan hairdresser who ICE sent to CECOT. Romero, who is gay, very soft and effeminate in appearance, and has no criminal record is the last person who should belong in a place like CECOT. Another controversial case is that of Neri Jose Alvarado Borges, a Venezuelan baker who was sent to CECOT over an autism awareness tattoo that was alleged to be for Tren de Aragua, the notorious Venezuelan gang. However, the most publicized case is of Kilmar Abrego Garcia who is actually from El Salvador and has a criminal record, including trafficking migrants, and has been brought back to the US to stand trial.

If Trump were smarter he would choose easy targets such as the worst criminals, but sending people with no criminal backgrounds to CECOT is bound to damage his agenda. It is one thing to deport a Salvadorian illegal immigrant and then let Bukele decide how to deal with them, but Trump has been sending other nationalities, primarily Venezuelans to CECOT. Deporting migrants to a third party country is kind of a legal grey area, but sending someone to prison in a country where they have zero ties probably violates international law.

There was a leftist conspiracy theory that CECOT was a death camp, due to details on Google Maps that appeared like a crematorium with a blood-like stain on the ground. I have no idea if there is any validity to that but there is a lack of transparency. In a sense, Trump was disappearing people, as journalists and their lawyers and families had zero access or contact with them until there was immense pressure from the media, courts, and Democrat politicians to bring them back to America.

Using a foreign country as a client state, dissolves the US of some culpability, as it is easier to cover it up if someone gets tortured or killed in prison. I am not necessarily anti-Bukele, as he did greatly reduce El Salvador’s murder rate and there is a case that his crackdowns were a necessary evil. However, my issue is more with American right-wingers who want to implement Bukele type policies here, as we are nowhere near that crisis level, even if crime has risen somewhat this decade.

There is this libertarian argument that stripping away rights from immigrants is a slippery slope to stripping native born citizens of their rights, especially dissidents. Democrats are going to keep the new police state apparatus while getting rid of the nationalist aspects, much like how Biden weaponized Bush’s war on terror laws and tools against the Right. It doesn’t help that Trump is turning immigration into a law and order rather than a demographic issue.

There is a counter argument that civil liberties should only be for Americans; strength on an Imperium level, and freedom on a Dominium level. For instance, Israel is harsh on the Palestinians but grants its own people relative freedom, while Hungary is harsh on migrants while also being relatively free for its people. However, America is different because it functions as an inward facing empire that treats its citizens like subjects, and electing MAGA Republicans isn’t going to change that.

However, I am not a libertarian who has an obsession with the non-aggression principle and its opposition to asserting power. Rather Trump is doing the opposite of Teddy Roosevelt’s “Speak softly and carry a big stick,” in that he serves the role of this Fascist boogeyman that riles up the Left while failing to deliver. The worst case scenario is that Trump damages civil liberties while not reversing demographic change that much.

source: @WhiteHouse on X

Trump has a very limited amount of time as he knows that Democrats will probably win the midterm and obstruct his agenda. Thus he is rushing things which is messy and chaotic rather than planned out and methodical. Trump is overall unpopular, but immigration is the one issue where he has some degree of support. However, if Trump fails it could really tarnish the immigration restrictionist cause and nationalism. Not to mention being tainted by super unpopular policies like scrapping Medicaid benefits, tariffs crashing the economy, and Trump covertly greenlighting war with Iran. Trump was the last chance for nationalism and immigration restriction, and if he fails, Democrats are going to ramp up replacement migration and push for European-style hate speech legislation.