One of the several policy initiatives launched by President Donald Trump in his crackdown on illegal immigration is poised to backfire and may already be “undercutting its own objectives,” argued Politico columnist Ankush Khardori Monday morning, and set off a wave of “collateral damage.”
In his effort to make good on his campaign pledge to eradicate illegal immigration, Trump has bolstered the budget of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to $37.5 billion, instituted a daily migrant arrest quota of 3,000, and on his first day in office, signed an executive order designating drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations.”
And it’s that executive order, Khardori wrote in a column Monday, that could end up backfiring.
“The Trump administration’s decision could ultimately prevent the extradition of defendants to the United States who have been apprehended by European countries,” Khardori wrote. “That is because the ‘foreign terrorist organization’ designation could expose some defendants to the death penalty, and certain European countries will not extradite defendants to countries where they are eligible for the death penalty.”
Two European diplomats who spoke with Khardori on the condition of anonymity specifically named Trump’s executive order as being “on their radar,” and said that the policy had only created more “confusion” as to how to cooperate with the United States on such matters.
The European diplomats also named the behavior of top Justice Department officials – Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel – as being particularly “counterproductive and unprofessional,” Khardori wrote.
“They worry that the standards for decorum among the nation’s top law enforcement officials have fallen, and that senior administration officials like Bondi and Patel – as well as DHS Secretary Kristi Noem – have politicized law enforcement in a way that may seriously compromise the integrity of the U.S. criminal justice system and make allied law enforcement agencies reluctant to lend support to Trump administration investigations or prosecutions they see as primarily political,” Khardori wrote.