Jorge Ramos of Univision penned an op-ed for Fusion on Tuesday in which he noted that the xenophobic rhetoric that President Donald Trump has turned into policy has lead him to the conclusion that he no longer "recognize[s] this country anymore."
Ramos came to the U.S. from Mexico in the 1980s to pursue his career in journalism. He writes, "moving to the U.S. meant that I could speak freely. As a journalist in Mexico, I was censored."
Noting how he wants other immigrants coming to the U.S. to have a similar experience as his own, one with economic opportunities and "boundless generosity," Ramos explained, "Trump is making that impossible."
He described Trump's executive order that was announced just five days after his Jan. 20 inauguration, which formally proposed plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, working off of former President George W. Bush's Secure Fence Act of 2006.
In an article for TIME, Ramos noted that Trump's plans to have Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto pay for the border wall is, "as absurd as asking your neighbor to pay to remodel your own home. If a neighbor asked me something like that, my answer would be: Are you crazy?" He added, "Trump’s wall is totally useless. Any smart person would know that."
Following the release of Trump's Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements order on Jan. 25, 2017, Ramos writes, "he issued a directive that radically changes deportation priorities in this country." That directive outlined a path for mass deportations by criminalizing immigrants who "committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense" even if they had never been convicted of a crime.
In other words, Ramos writes, "Deporting almost all of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. is now a priority. If this is truly the case, will there soon be widespread raids on homes or workplaces? This executive order makes it seem that anyone who is deemed deportable by an immigration officer is at risk."
Ramos has been an outspoken opponent of Trump since his campaign days. In August 2015, just two months after Trump first announced his candidacy, Ramos attempted to ask Trump about his immigration policies during a press briefing.
He was forcibly removed from the presser and Univision was subsequently banned from receiving press credentials by the Trump campaign. A video that resurfaced last week of Ramos' forced removal from the press conference revealed a Trump aide telling him to "get out of my country."
"No, some days I don’t recognize the country that has helped me so much," Ramos wrote.