There are few policies that more define who is “American” (which for most of our history was synonymous with “white”) than immigration policy. Not only have we controlled who can enter the country, but the term on which they do so. This has included everything from limiting the time someone can stay to denying people immigrant status all together as was the case of Chinese labor in the 1800s. In fact, the southern border controls were put in place out of fear of Chinese entering the country from the south – not to control Mexicans crossing the border.

These various expulsions and exclusions are not new. They come in waves, though the current wave has lasted for far too long. Barack Obama “cracked down” on both undocumented folk inside the U.S., and on those crossing the border illegally. Obama also caged children (for periods of time). Though that was during a surge of unaccompanied minors, it was still odious and totally unacceptable. However, Donald Trump has gone far beyond even the excesses of Obama. He (and his nationalist core group lead by Sessions) started a “zero tolerance” policy, but also added a practice of outright cruelty. He broke international law by denying refugees asylum; actually leaving them little choice to attempt entry beyond the the crossing points, and then targeting families. Once the families were in custody, the parents were processed, their children separated from them (with no plan whatsoever to return them to their parents), and then frequently the parents were deported. Now Trump is establishing long term detention camps and petitioning to remove the limits on how long children can be detained.

The anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, is part and parcel with the fascist and dictatorial movement that seems to be sweeping the planet. There are few politicians or leaders who are as blatantly disregarding the rule of law as Donald Trump (Duterte, Omar al-Bashir (Sudan), Bashar al-Assad (Syria), could be included along with Erdogan and Netanyahu). However, this does not mean that those nationalist fascist parties across Europe are not pushing for legislative changes that would facilitate their agenda. We are in dark times and getting darker as the trending policies reflect a growing loss of empathy that leads only to violence and war.