Donald Trump is determined to deport more immigrants than any other president in history, and his policies are actually creating more undocumented people.
More than 1 million people who were granted legal entry to the U.S. under various programs enacted by previous administrations have had that status ripped away from them by Trump policies, dramatically expanding the number of immigrants who could be deported as his administration seeks to expel that same number per year, reported NBC News.
“If you’re looking for the definition of ‘self-fulling prophesy,’ look no further than Trump’s stream of policies that intentionally take legal status away from people so they go from being documented, to undocumented and then are fair game for being deported,” said Angela Kelley, an adviser at the American Immigration Law Center and a former senior adviser on immigration for the Department of Homeland Security.
Trump pledged to target criminals, but immigration advocates say he has de-legalized many immigrants who had been authorized to live and work in the U.S.
“What happened to his promise of targeting criminals?" Kelley said. "He’s had to create larger numbers of targets and even then, the folks aren’t criminals, because they’re here legally."
Critics say the administration has not expanded the number of visas or provided other pathways to legally bring workers into the country or legalize individuals who've spent years trying to improve their immigration status, which business and agriculture leaders say is necessary to maintain a viable workforce.
“We’ve just seen no effort to improve legal pathways and, if anything, things have gotten worse,” said Stuart Anderson, executive director for the National Foundation for American Policy.
The administration wants to take away citizenship from people who don't have at least parent who's a U.S. citizen or legal resident, which would significantly enlarge the number of unauthorized people who could then potentially be deported, and they have challenged previous policies that allow migrants to legally be in this country.
“Now they are having the rug violently pulled out from under them,” said Guerline Jozef, executive director and founder of Haitian Bridge Alliance.