Donald Trump came into office after his January 20th inauguration as a man on a mission. His campaign rhetoric and manifesto clearly spelt out his plans for this second term. The centre of his campaign was getting tough on immigration. He has quickly backed his words with action.
Three of his main actions on immigration have been cancelling birthright citizenship – the right of anyone born in the US to automatically gain US citizenship, passing the Lakein Riley Act through Congress and declaring a state of emergency at the southern border with Mexico. This combination of anti-immigrant measures is central to why Trump’s second term makes life even harder for Africans without documents in the USA.
According to the Pew Research Center, there are 11 million undocumented immigrants in the USA. Of these, approximately two million are from Sub-Saharan Africa. Trump’s Executive Order eliminating birthright citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants further marginalises Africans without proper immigration documentation.
While 22 states have challenged the Trump Executive Order in court, it remains the law until the matter is settled. An issue that could take significant time. In the interim, the fate of children of undocumented immigrants and their families remains grim.
The passage of the Lakein Riley Act also shrinks the legal protections for undocumented immigrants. It allows state and federal authorities an expanded leeway to deport undocumented immigrants convicted of theft-related crimes. This action effectively lowers the threshold for the severity of crimes for which individuals can get deported.
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While under the Biden Administration, the focus was on undocumented immigrants who committed felonies, simple misdemeanours could land an undocumented immigrant in line for deportation under the Trump Administration.
What is more troubling about the Lakein Riley Act is the expanded role of the states in implementing federal immigration policy. Border regulation and immigration policy have heretofore been domiciled with the federal government in Washington, D.C., not the states.
It is an enumerated constitutional power of the federal government to regulate the border and advance immigration policy. Not the states. What is even more troubling is the perverse incentives created by the Lakein Riley Act.
Because the Trump Administration will need an additional 60,000 beds to detain undocumented immigrants, at a cost of approximately US$3 billion, local and state governments are further incentivised to rent detention capacity for undocumented immigrants to the federal government via the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
This practice disproportionately targets vulnerable migrant populations – mainly people from poor developing regions like Africa– that have limited access to legal support and are faced with wider environmental and societal marginalisation.
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Lastly, in declaring a state of emergency at the southern border with Mexico and militarizing the border region with additional troops, Trump has made the ability of asylum seekers attempting to cross the border to save their lives more difficult.
The crisis at the US-Mexico border has resulted in thousands of asylum seekers stuck in Mexico in unhygienic, dangerous and destitute conditions with no quick way to file an asylum claim or petition to enter the US. In addition to this, the legal process of applying for visas to the US takes many months, if not years.
This totality of anti-immigrant Trump-led federal policy, therefore, makes life even harder for Africans without documents in the USA. It is incumbent upon the African Union and individual African governments to push back on Trump’s xenophobic immigrant policies or risk further marginalising undocumented Africans in the USA.
Prof David Monda teaches political science, international relations and foreign policy at the City University of New York. He’s available at dmonda@gradcenter.cuny.edu or on X as @dmonda1. The opinions expressed here are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Chanzo. If you are interested in publishing in this space, please contact our editors at editor@thechanzo.com.
