The Trump administration has continued its crackdown on immigrants, deporting even those legally residing in the U.S. Families are being torn apart, fear grips communities, and Trump claims this protects American workers. Does it?
Details. As Trump enacts his mass deportation plans, several cases show these actions are often taken without due process. In one case, a two-year-old US citizen was deported to Honduras with her mother, with virtually no chance to speak to lawyers or family.
► Permanent residence permit holders are being detained when returning to the US, and ICE is reportedly targeting unaccompanied immigrant children as part of a more aggressive crackdown.
► Trump has revoked Temporary Protected Status for Afghans and Cameroonians, seeks to do the same for Venezuelans—and has even floated this for Ukrainians.
► Some US states are launching their own deportation efforts. Texas, for example, runs Operation Lone Star, spending billions on border militarisation and arrests.
► A Venezuelan living in Texas was deported to the notorious El Salvador mega-prison for having an autism awareness tattoo, which ICE falsely claimed was linked to the gang Tren de Aragua. This was despite proof of his asylum claim.
Context. During the 2024 election, Trump’s campaign focused on deporting undocumented immigrants, blaming them for job theft and rising crime. Crime statistics showed a drop, but Trump dismissed the data, claiming "crime here is up and through the roof"—and pinned the alleged rise on immigrants.
► In 2024, 45% of Americans reported being worse off than four years earlier. Although 2023–24 saw wages rise above inflation, wages still lagged over the longer term. Capitalists blame immigrants for the workers’ decreasing livelihood and use this to justify mass deportations.
► Despite Trump’s open hostility to immigrants, Biden’s deportation numbers surpassed Trump’s first term. In 2021, Biden pledged to pause deportations but expanded them, with 271,000 deported in the fiscal year before Dec 2024.
Important to Know. Mass deportations aren’t unique to Trump or the right wing—they are structural features of capitalism, employed by both Republicans and Democrats. Deportations help capitalists manage surplus labour by shrinking the workforce when convenient. When extra labour is needed, immigration is welcomed—as under JFK, who promoted laws easing entry and called the US a "nation of immigrants."
► Deportations also can (and are intended to) depress wages. Immigrants must often accept worse conditions under threat of being reported and must compete with non-immigrants, hence are more desperate. Some sectors, like agriculture, are dominated by immigrant labour, where local competition almost no longer exists. This weakens the labour market as a whole.
► This enforced competition breeds division within the working class, stoked by capitalist media that incites native-born workers to see immigrants as threats, despite the fact that it is the capitalist in charge of choosing who to hire.
► Capitalists have no intention of ending immigration and forsaking the cheap supply of labour, nor can they if they did, as imperialism, through the exploitation of dependent countries, creates conditions which force people to migrate, seeking better conditions.
► Immigration policy is also a political weapon. Workers who challenge ruling-class interests—especially anti-imperialist or revolutionary organisers—can be targeted for deportation. This has already been tried against pro-Palestinian figures, and could be used against workplace organisers and communists.
Conclusion. Workers must see through the ruling class’s hypocrisy—one moment embracing immigration, the next attacking it. Immigration is not the problem, but a symptom. Deportation threats must not divide or deter workers. Instead, they must organise on internationalist lines, building class solidarity. It is capitalism—not immigration—that creates exploitation and immiseration. Workers must fight to replace it.