Trump will continue his "strong hand" policy against immigrants if reelected

WASHINGTON.— The detractors of the president, Donald Trump, believe that his new limit on the entry of refugees and other points on his immigration agenda have been extreme, but if he wins reelection, the fight against undocumented immigrants and restrictions on legal immigration will continue.

That was the message he conveyed this Wednesday during a conference call with journalists Stephen Miller

, Trump's adviser at the White House and architect of his immigration policy.

Miller, who said he spoke "in a personal capacity as a campaign advisor," defended the new ceiling of 15,000 on refugee inflows for fiscal year 2021 and the entire immigration agenda of Trump, and attacked the plan of his Democratic rival in the contest, Joe Biden.

[Hunting for the Latino vote, Biden promises immigration reform and more opportunities for Hispanics]

If Biden wins, the child smugglers would have "a best friend" in his future administration, and the country will be overwhelmed with an increase in illegal immigration of "epic proportions," according to Miller.

“Tens of millions will come from all over the planet… (Biden's plan) will be particularly devastating for African Americans and Hispanic Americans;

the flow of low-wage workers will depress incomes, deplete the middle class, and will bankrupt Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, ”he warned.

In that sense, Miller repeated the rhetoric of groups that reject immigrants that foreigners are a “public charge,” and allowing them to enter would deepen the overcrowding of schools and hospitals amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

But

Anti-immigrant rhetoric helped Trump win the presidency in 2016 and is again part of his electoral strategy.

[Trump promises plan to reunify separated children at border and Biden attacks 'zero tolerance' policy]

Last month, Miles Taylor, former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under Kirstjen Nielsen, told BuzzFeed News that Miller is preparing a series of extreme immigration executive orders, if Trump wins, including eliminating automatic citizenship for children born in the US to undocumented parents.

That measure, which anti-immigrant groups have wanted for decades and which has failed in Congress, would be challenged in court because it violates the constitutional right to automatic citizenship for everyone born in this country.

In an interview with Noticias Telemundo, Taylor asked that the Trump Administration offer an apology for the separation of families.

By when will the reunification of children with their parents?

Miller avoided explaining what the Trump Administration is doing to reunify 545 children who were separated from their parents at the southern border, most of whom were deported to Central America.  

The group was part of two 2017 pilot programs created long before the “zero tolerance” policy on the southern border, which also separated more than 2,000 families but was suspended by court order.

Miller did not offer a reunification plan, but he did argue that the Obama Administration's policies nurtured "an industry of child smuggling," while the Trump Administration "kept families together, and protected and prevented hundreds of thousands, millions from of families fell into the hands of smugglers ”.

However,

, which have documented numerous cases of abuse in migrant detention centers.

[Immigrants report that they suffer sequelae after passing through an ICE detention center: "I have not been able to forget what I experienced"]

In addition, although the Obama administration ordered the brief detention of minors on the southern border,

according to analysts.

Prior to the call, a high-ranking White House official, who requested anonymity, sent Telemundo a summary of Trump's six main achievements in the area of ​​immigration, as part of a nationalist agenda designed to "protect workers Americans ”.  

ICE raids in 'sanctuary' cities leave more than 120 immigrants detained in California

Oct. 7, 202001: 39

That list includes the construction of "hundreds of miles" of his promised border wall;

the halt to the release of immigrants detained on the southern border;

measures for legal immigration based on “merits”;

the fight against "sanctuary cities";

travel bans for certain foreigners - "endorsed" by the Supreme Court - and the fight against drug trafficking.

More restrictions in 2021?

The White House is developing a plan to create a database of fingerprints and other biometric data that every foreigner would have to provide from now on

to the United States, according to a draft obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

The plan, managed for months from the White House National Security Council, is an important fundamental change because, until now, the delivery of biometric data happens once the applicants begin their procedures.

Citizens of Canada and the 39 visa-exempt countries - most of Europe - would also have to give their biometric data at consulates, according to the document.

The Department of Homeland Security has ordered the shipment to consulates of fingerprint machines, which have better technology than the machines already installed in those consulates.

The policy in the making reinforces the measures taken by the Trump Administration to restrict the access of refugees and foreigners with temporary visas, who also undergo scrutiny of their accounts on social networks.

Currently, immigrants who have initiated an immigration adjustment within the United States to other visas, permanent residence or citizenship, must also submit DNA tests, records of their iris and voice, and other biometric data.

That rule also applies to US citizens sponsoring a relative's visa.

Against public opinion

Pro-immigrant groups consulted by Noticias Telemundo agreed that the majority of Americans believe that immigration is good for the United States, and they support a reform that legalizes the undocumented population.

Carlos Guevara, deputy director of immigration initiatives for the UnidosUs group, pointed out that, according to a Gallup poll,

and oppose the separation of families, the end of DACA, or the construction of the border wall.

Eric Schwartz, president of Refugees International, condemned the “draconian restrictions” against refugees from Asia, the Middle East and Central America, as a mere extension of Trump's electoral strategy this year, despite many of the foreigners vilified by the Administration “ they are in the first line of defense against the COVID-19 pandemic ”.

This is the fifth cut in refugee entry by the Trump Administration - this year the limit was 18,000 - and the longest in the program established in 1980.

Groups like America's Voice, Mi Familia Vota, and Poder Latinx, among others, have made it clear that the majority of Latino voters reject Trump's immigration policy, and will be charged at the polls on November 3.