United States | Policy briefs

Donald Trump is preparing an assault on America’s immigration system

The third in our series of policy briefs

Illustration of blue legs crossing a red dotted line.
Photograph: Ben Hickey
|LOS ANGELES

PART OF BEING Donald Trump is saying outrageous things. Yet what was outrageous in 2011 (suggesting that Barack Obama was born in Kenya) seems almost quaint in 2024. His rhetoric has turned darker. Immigrants are no longer just criminals and rapists, “they are poisoning the blood of our country.” Chants of “build the wall!” have been replaced by “send them back!” In MAGA world, legal immigrants from Haiti are threatening to eat the pets of the good people of Springfield, Ohio.

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