WaPo Editorial: Trump doubles down on his illogical, un-American immigration plans
By Editorial Board September 1 at 7:23 PM
IT’S USEFUL that Donald Trump has clarified his plans for Larissa Martinez, who started classes this week as a freshman at Yale University, having graduated in the spring as class valedictorian at her Texas high school. After weeks of waffling, and suggestions that his views on immigration might be “softening,” Mr. Trump has set the record straight: Ms. Martinez has no future in America. The recipient of a full scholarship to Yale, Ms. Martinez is hoping for a career as a neurosurgeon. As it happens, she’s also a top-notch student, a compelling public speaker and, according to Mr. Trump’s policy, a high priority for deportation.
Discarding his dalliance with fairness and compassion, the Republican presidential nominee this week tossed red meat to the xenophobes in his base by reaffirming his intention to launch a crusade of mass deportations that would target, according to an analysis by The Post, at least 6 million people. Among them, he said, would be immigrants who have overstayed their visas. That category would sweep up Ms. Martinez, who, at age 13, accompanied her mother and sister to the United States on a tourist visa; they stayed after the visa expired, having fled an abusive home in Mexico.
Of course, there is no place in Mr. Trump’s cramped mental universe for someone like Ms. Martinez. To Mr. Trump and the crowds who egg him on, undocumented immigrants are criminals, murderers, rapists, carriers of disease and drug smugglers, fit to be rounded up by deportation agents and shipped far, far away.
Just why Mr. Trump would prioritize visa-overstayers for deportation, and not those who entered the country illegally in the first place, is unexplained. Logic is hardly the point of his policy. He asserts that illegal immigrants have stolen jobs from Americans and triggered a crime wave. In fact, they have met a labor market demand for low-wage workers and been a catalyst for economic growth.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-doubles-down-on-his-illogical-un-american-immigration-plans/2016/09/01/6339649c-707d-11e6-8533-6b0b0ded0253_story.html?utm_term=.1bfde0d8c343&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1
