Trump's 'Deportation Drive': Familiar Echoes, Missing Context
The Independent details teachers passing out 'know your rights' leaflets in Chicago as Trump targets ICE arrests. A noble effort, no doubt. But the silence on how we got here is deafening. 'Ramping up' implies a new gear, yet the 'deportation drive' is not some sudden innovation by Trump. Bill Clinton signed the 1996 IIRIRA Act, which dramatically increased deportations. Barack Obama, the
'deporter-in-chief,' oversaw more than 3 million deportations, earning him that moniker from activists. DHS statistics show his administration deported more people than any other in US history. So, while the independent media feigns outrage at Trump's latest iteration, they conveniently omit this bipartisan conveyor belt of human suffering. It’s not a 'Trump' problem; it’s a systemic, bipartisan
one. One might wonder if the selective outrage hinges on who sits in the Oval Office, rather than the brutality of the policy itself.