Princeton SPIA Faculty Offer Reactions to Trump Immigration Policies

Amelia Frank-Vitale
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs

Trump’s rapid-fire moves on immigration instill fear and chaos (raids in cities like Newark and Chicago, the abrupt canceling of CBPone appointments for asylum seekers). And yet, the Trump agenda is full of spectacle. The numbers of individuals deported is not higher; there is nothing new about deportees being handcuffed during transport. The use of military airplanes, however, shows a new attitude is in the White House (never mind that military planes carry fewer people than the charter planes routinely used by ICE). There is no ambivalence about deportation. The Trump administration does not feel the need to temper or justify its actions, proudly promoting daily arrests (as though the numbers were massively higher; they are not), gleeful and triumphant in the cruelty. Meanwhile, some of the most vulnerable people in the world are being used by Trump and his counterparts in other countries as pawns of diplomacy – people in exchange for tariffs, lives upended in return for cheaper goods. 

Filiz Garip
Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs

The Trump administration is moving along on several fronts to restrict immigration to the United States. The administration has declared a national emergency at the southern border; it has shut off the refugee resettlement program and the asylum application system that allowed people to legally enter the country. The administration has opened the path to removing(opens in a new tab) more than a million migrants with temporary legal status. The new policy allows immigration authorities to enter schools, hospitals, and places of worship to arrest immigrants.With these changes, we are entering an era of profound uncertainty and fear for immigrants in this country and possibly worldwide. If the United States closes its borders, expels migrants who are legally present, and refuses to accept refugees – thereby shirking its responsibilities under international law – what will prevent other countries from doing the same?

Udi Ofer
John L. Weinberg Visiting Professor and Lecturer of Public and International Affairs

President Trump’s immigration orders are on a direct collision course with the Constitution. In the span of just a few days, President Trump managed to issue immigration orders that attempt to unconstitutionally commandeer state and local resources, gut due process protections for potentially millions of people, defy more than 125 years of Supreme Court precedent, and disregard binding international law. This sweeping overreach, occurring in the administration’s earliest days, has set the stage for years of litigation. Courts have already begun to push back, with a federal judge appointed by President Reagan ruling that Trump’s attempt to dismantle birthright citizenship is “blatantly unconstitutional.” History will judge this period as a critical test of the Constitution’s resilience and the judiciary’s resolve to uphold the rule of law and push back against presidential abuses of power.

Deborah Pearlstein
Charles and Marie Robertson Visiting Professor in Law and Public Affairs
Director, Program in Law and Public Policy

On the immigration front, it’s much less clear how the courts will decide than how they’ll decide questions. For example, on the attack against birthright citizenship in the United States, there have already been significant inroads into otherwise guaranteed rights to seek asylum in the United States – rights to due process while in detention, in immigration detention, and so forth. But at a minimum, this is going to take some time to play out, and the courts will absolutely be involved.

Julian E. Zelizer
Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs

This is an aggressive assertion of executive power – with the strong support of the Republican Party. It is exactly as he promised to do throughout the campaign. Much of this will be challenged in the courts, but should a substantial amount of these executive orders stand, it will be the start of a redirection of public policy in numerous areas.