Targeted by Both the Law and the Lawless, Migrants Endure in Trump’s America

This appeared in The Millennial Source

The events of August 3–7, 2019 made clear that the current, widely publicized chaos at the US-Mexico border is just the most visible symptom of problems woven deeply into the fabric of US life and politics.

On August 3, a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in the border city of El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people. Many of the victims were Latinos, including eight Mexican citizens. Law enforcement officials believe that alleged shooter Patrick Crusius also posted an anti-immigrant manifesto on 8chan. Crusius has been charged with murder and may also face domestic terrorism charges.

Just four days later in Mississippi, ICE officials took almost 700 undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Central America into custody. The raid of multiple poultry processing plants was the largest single-state immigration law enforcement action in US history. Occurring on the first day of school, it left many children parentless for hours or days.

The continuation of patterns established during the Bracero era