Trump's "McCarthy era" throwback: A promise to deport protesters

Trump's "McCarthy era" throwback: A promise to deport protesters
Trump has vowed to use his power to stifle pro-Palestinian protests. How far will he really go?

By Russell Payne
Staff Reporter
Published December 21, 2024 6:00AM (EST)


(Salon) With President-elect Donald Trump promising to make mass deportation a top priority in 2025, one related campaign promise has fallen off the radar. During the campaign, Trump said several times that he would seek to deport pro-Palestinian protesters, which would be an obvious test of the new president's willingness and ability to challenge long-established First Amendment rights.

Trump’s Agenda 47, his official platform for the 2024 election, lays out 20 planks, including promises to seal the border, stage mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and end inflation. Tucked away in the 18th bullet point, however, is a promise to crack down on campus protesters: "DEPORT PRO-HAMAS RADICALS AND MAKE OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES SAFE AND PATRIOTIC AGAIN," it reads.

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Matt Cameron, an immigration lawyer at Cameron Micheroni & Silvia, told Salon that deportation has been used throughout U.S. history to threaten or punish political dissidents. Perhaps the most famous example was the activist and writer Emma Goldman, who had immigrated to America as a teenager but was deported to Russia under the Anti-Anarchist Act in 1919.

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Cameron said he suspects the Trump team may go after recently naturalized citizens, especially immigrants from Arab or Muslim countries, who express opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza or are critical of U.S. policy in the Middle East. There is no possible procedure for pursuing denaturalization en masse, Cameron added, and it could probably only be applied to movement leaders or high-profile individuals. ...................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/12/21/mccarthy-era-throwback-a-promise-to-deport/