Trump Finds an Excuse to Punish Immigrants, Again
Following an alleged lone attacker from Portugal, the Trump administration immediately paused the diversity visa program, lauded by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ( X.com/Sec_Noem/status/2001873077089767435 ). This isn't newfound concern; Trump explicitly called for ending this exact program in his first term. Axios even notes DHS had already paused asylum decisions after an Afghan national's alleged
attack and suspended all immigration for Afghan passport holders just weeks prior. The Cato Institute highlighted this administration's travel ban had already halted legal immigration for 20% of applicants ( cato.org/blog ). This isn't policy-making by incident; it's incident-waiting for policy. It appears the 'threat to national security' is now defined as 'any individual incident that can
justify existing anti-immigrant goals.' They don't react to events; they seize opportunities. The 'widespread fraud' amongst Somalis in Minnesota, impacting 'less than 1,000 people' (per Axios), miraculously justifies a surge of enforcement in Minneapolis. How convenient that every isolated action by an immigrant perfectly aligns with Trump’s desire to 'scale down legal immigration.' One might
wonder if they're solving problems or simply finding pretexts.