To Move Forward, We Must Look Back

Anti-immigrant statements have flooded the airwaves this election cycle, threats of mass deportation and detention chief among them. Mere dialogue around this, introduced by Project 2025 and embraced by numerous politicians, wreaks fear. Any implementation by President-elect Trump would destroy lives, tear families apart, and harm communities nationwide.

Tragically, presidential administrations have conducted large-scale deportation and detention programs repeatedly throughout the 20th century and as recently as 2018. In examining these policies, it is imperative the U.S. government end to this damning political trend and forge the just future that immigrant communities deserve.

A Long and Disgraceful History of Xenophobia, Detention, and Forced Removal

Racist history overshadows U.S. immigration and citizenship policies from the displacement and dispossession of Indigenous communities to citizenship restrictions for Black people to the Chinese Exclusion Act. Immigration enforcement is no exception.

In the Great Depression amid concerns of job scarcity, the U.S. federal government forcibly removed over 1 million Mexican Americans and nationals-despite 60% of them being U.S. citizens. Parents were torn from their children, leaving lasting trauma for those who stayed in the United States. Many had to rebuild their lives alone, having never been to Mexico or away for decades.

The stain of racial profiling and terrorizing communities plagued the United States during its World War II internment camp era. President Roosevelt ordered the mass removal and incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent. From 1942 to 1945, people - mostly U.S. citizens - were forced from their homes and imprisoned in one of ten detention camps. This hateful measure was a reactionary violation of human rights, as families were torn from their communities, lost homes and businesses, and faced dehumanizing detention conditions.

Despite the clearly disastrous impacts of internment on Japanese Americans, the federal government once again bolstered a large anti-immigrant campaign in the 1950s under President Eisenhower. Sparked by anti-Mexican discourse around "illegal" immigration, the government detained and held immigrants in inhumane conditions before deporting them to often unfamiliar parts of Mexico. Nearly 1.3 million people of Mexican descent, including U.S. citizens, were targeted and deported.

Unfortunately, cruel forces have persisted and driven policymakers to continue destroying lives well into the 21st century. In 2018, under Trump's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy, officials separated 5,500 children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. The legacy of this dark moment continues- nearly 1,000 families have still not been reunited to this day. Some children have lived the majority of their lives without their parents. Many face anxiety and loneliness from the trauma of being torn from their loved ones.

Mass Deportation Plans Would Destroy Families, Communities, and the Economy

The mass detention and deportation proposals touted by President-elect Trump would escalate a history of harms that the U.S. public memory knows well. These policies would damage our nation, disrupt communities, and rip families apart on an unprecedented scale.

These policies would damage our nation, disrupt communities, and rip families apart on an unprecedented scale.

More than 11 million undocumented people- friends, parents, neighbors, colleagues, and leaders-could be threatened by mass deportation. Devastation would be at the doorstep of 6.3 million homes with undocumented individuals-4.8% of all U.S. households. Critically, 70% of them are mixed-status, including people with secure immigration status as well as undocumented relatives. Countless U.S. citizens, residents, and visa holders would be forced to say goodbye to undocumented loved ones. Children wouldn't be spared from this immense pain: over 4 million U.S. citizen children live with at least one undocumented immigrant parent and approximately 6.1 million U.S. citizen kids live with one or more undocumented family members.

Economically, undocumented employees comprise 4.8% of the U.S. workforce, and U.S. labor shortages will only get worse as older generations transition into retirement. Mass deportation would wreak havoc in major industries, removing 1.5 million workers from the construction industry, 1 million employees from hospitality, and 224,700 people from the agriculture workforce. Mass deportation would not give back jobs to U.S. citizens and residents, but instead cause employers to scale down, close operations, and refrain from opening new enterprises. Notably, such plans would cost the country $968 billion over a decade.

A Compassionate Path Forward

U.S. history shows us that anti-immigrant discourse can evolve into real action and harm perpetrated by the federal government. This does not have to be our future. Policymakers must reject mass deportation plans, uplift the value of migrants, keep families together, deliver a pathway to citizenship for our undocumented communities, and end harmful carceral enforcement.

Policymakers must reject mass deportation plans, uplift the value of migrants, keep families together, deliver a pathway to citizenship for our undocumented communities, and end harmful carceral enforcement.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) is committed to protecting undocumented communities. In the coming weeks and months, FCNL will offer resources and webinars for immigrant communities and advocates. In the interim here are some tools and reminders:

• The Pathway to Citizenship Toolkit is a guide to urge policymakers to pass long-overdue legislative relief.
• For more information on deportation defense and to know your rights, see these materials from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
• Although we must prepare for the next four years, President-elect Trump can't simply do away with due process, and his efforts will be challenged.

Trump's cruel immigration policies have stained the story of our country before, and implementation of his plans these next four years would cause unfathomable harm. However, in the words of Maya Angelou, "History, despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."

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