The Hill Discovers 'Massive Change' in Immigration, Forgetting History
The Hill 's piece, 'Trump’s year on immigration reflects massive change in American life,' conveniently frames Trump's policies as a sudden, radical departure. Yet, the foundations for these 'massive changes' were laid long before, with administrations like Clinton's 'Operation Gatekeeper' in 1994, which militarized the border and pushed migrants into increasingly perilous routes. (See: 'The Wall:
The Politics of Immigration' by Betsy Cooper). Subsequent administrations, including Obama's, continued to expand border enforcement technologies and deportations, even earning him the moniker 'Deporter-in-Chief' from immigrant rights groups (as reported by the New York Times in 2014). To present Trump's actions as a singular, monumental shift ignores the incremental, bipartisan build-up of the
enforcement regime – a system designed over decades. It's almost as if some political 'changes' are only 'massive' when a Republican is in office.