Page 24 - The Economist20171214

24 United States The Economist December 16th 2017
2 cans crept back into the fold. One notable Deportation tions has declined over the past fiscal
exception was Richard Shelby, Alabama’s year—from October 1st 2016 to September
senior senator. Two days before the elec- Rhetoric and 30th 2017—to the lowest level seen since
tionhewentonaprominenttalkshow just 2006. The data also show that deportation
to say, “I couldn’t vote for Roy Moore. The reality hasbecome lessselective in the Trump era,
state ofAlabama deserves better.” increasing the risk of removal for people
At a rally in south-eastern Alabama the like Mr Barrios Mendoza, who have led
SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA
night before the vote, Stephen Bannon, Mr Deportations ofundocumented longand quiet lives in America.
Trump’s former chief strategist and the ar- migrants decline underDonald Trump The decrease in total deportations is
chitect of his presidential campaign, largelyexplained bya 17% drop in the num-
fronted a motley crew of far-right Republi- N THE morning of October 4th Gwen berofimmigrantsarrested and removed at
cans who offered bilious, resentful speech- Oand Rossyo Barrios Mendoza, two the border over the past fiscal year. Recent
es promoting Mr Moore while pandering teenage sisters, were scurrying around border crossers are the easiest to deport;
to Alabamans’ prickliness. “Nobody can their family’s small home in Santa Ana. those found within 100 miles (161km) of
come down here and tell folks in Alabama They ate cereal, fed the chickens and got the frontier who have been in America 14
what to do,” said Mr Bannon, a Virginian, their bags ready for school while their four days orfewerare not entitled to make their
speaking after a Texan and several Mid- siblings snoozed. Then they waved good- case before an immigration judge, a pro-
westerners. Other speakers attacked bye to their father, Israel, as he backed his cess that can take months, if not years, in
George Soros, Islam and “the lynch-mob grey pickup truck out onto their sunny the backlogged courts. DHS officials credit
media”. No name got longer and more sus- streetandbegandrivingtowardsthebuild- tighter border security and more stringent
tained boos than Mr Shelby’s. Mr Moore’s ing site where he worked as a house-fram- interior enforcement with dissuading mi-
wife defended her husband against char- er. A minute or two later Gwen received a grants from making the risky trek across
ges ofbigotry by revealing that “one ofour call. It was her father, and his voice America’s southern frontier. Mr Trump’s
attorneys is a Jew”. sounded shaky: “Gwen—I’ve been arrest- harsh rhetoric probably served as a deter-
That rally was one of Mr Moore’s few ed. They’re going to leave my truck on the rent, but border apprehensions, which are
public appearances in the campaign’s last street around the corner. Have your mom often used as a proxy for illegal immigra-
days. He did not campaign for votes as Mr come get it.” tion, began decliningbefore he moved into
Jones did, with handshakes and persua- Mr Barrios Mendoza is now being held the Oval Office.
sion; instead, he restricted himself to in a detention centre in the Joshua tree- While border removals have dipped,
friendly audiences and hand-picked me- studded California high desert. His chil- deportations ofimmigrants arrested in the
dia, the betterto avoid difficult questions. dren, all six of whom were born in Ameri- interior ofthe country have increased by a
ca, had worried about something like this quarter over the past fiscal year, due to Mr
Revenge ofthe1% happening to their father, an undocu- Trump’s expansion of who is considered
Still,inpoliticsnarrowresultscanhavedis- mentedimmigrantfromMexico,eversince eligible for removal. In February the DHS
proportionate effects. Before December Donald Trump was elected president. issued new immigration enforcement
12th it sometimes seemed as if the presi- While campaigning, Mr Trump had prom- guidelines that are far broader than those
denthad an unbreakable hold overRepub- ised to “round up” and remove all 11m un- implemented underBarackObama.
lican voters, and that they were marching documented immigrants estimated to be During the second half of Mr Obama’s
together to the tune of the white identity living in America. It was an impossible second term, Immigration and Customs
politics played by Mr Bannon. His plan for vowtokeep,butthecountrystillbracedfor Enforcement (ICE) officers were asked to
next year, to back primary challengers to an onslaught ofdeportations. focus on arresting newly arrived immi-
Senate Republicans he deems insufficient- Yet figures released by the Department grants and undocumented immigrants
lyloyaltoMrTrump,isstartingtolookflim- ofHomeland Security (DHS) on December with felony convictions. Mr Barrios Men-
sy. Mississippi remains fertile territory for 5th show that the total number ofdeporta- doza, whose only scrape with the law was
him, but after that the mid-term map ap- aticketfordrivingwithouta licence (which
pears unfriendly. And donors—seeing his his migration status prevented him get-
candidate lose a seat that a corpse could ting), may not have been entirely safe from
have won for the Republicans—may take deportation, but he would not have been
their money elsewhere. Mr Trump has an active target. “Felons, not families,” Mr
now backed three losers in a row: Mr Obama summarised when announcing
Moore; Luther Strange, whom Mr Moore the priorities. Statistics presented by ICE in
beat in the primary; and Ed Gillespie, who 2016, Mr Obama’s final year in office, sug-
lost the Virginia gubernatorial race. Con- gested that 83.7% of immigrants deported
gressional Republicans might see this and that year constituted threats to public safe-
calculate that they can afford to be a little ty, or had been apprehended at the border
braver than they have been in standing up when tryingto cross illegally.
to the president. The Trump administration’s guidelines
The Republican Senate majority is now are far more sweeping. ICE officers are to
down to one seat, and the prospect of los- focus not just on immigrants with criminal
ingthe chamberin nextyear’smid-termsis convictions, but even on those with unset-
real. In Mr Moore they may have found tled criminal charges. The instructions do
partisanship’s outer limit. As for Mr Jones, not distinguish between violent crimes
he will face long odds when he runs again and more minor infractions, such as traffic
in three years, presuming Republicans offences or immigration crimes, which in-
learn their lessons and nominate a less di- clude crossing into America without per-
visive character. But on December 12th he mission. “The Department no longer will
showed the world an Alabama that reject- exempt classes or categories of removable
ed hate in favour of decency and compe- aliens from potential enforcement,” read
tence, ifonly by a percentage point. 7 A less common sight the DHS memo of February. At a recent 1