Deportation Tous Azimuts: The Broken Promise of America Under Trump (Par Dr Moustapha Fall)

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Deportation Tous Azimuts: The Broken Promise of America Under Trump (By Dr. Moustapha Fall) 

In 2016, Donald J. Trump was elected on a platform that promised to put “America First.” But for millions of immigrants—documented and undocumented—his presidency became a four-year ordeal defined by fear, uncertainty, and profound betrayal. America, once seen as a haven for the displaced and the dreamers, rapidly transformed into a place of surveillance, suspicion, and systemic rejection.

The phrase “deportation tous azimuts”, borrowed from the French—“deportation in all directions”—captures the indiscriminate and sweeping nature of Trump’s immigration agenda. It was not merely enforcement; it was expulsion as spectacle, cruelty codified into law.

A War Against the American Dream

From the moment Trump descended that escalator and declared that immigrants were “bringing crime,” the tone was set. Immigration was no longer a matter of policy—it was a wedge, a target, a political weapon. ICE, emboldened and expanded, launched workplace raids and dawn arrests. Mothers were detained while dropping their children off at school. Fathers were pulled from their homes during dinner. Legal residents, green card holders, even U.S. citizens were not spared the chill of suspicion.

The administration’s actions were not isolated mistakes. They were deliberate choices. The “zero-tolerance” border policy that separated thousands of children from their families was designed to punish asylum seekers, not to protect the integrity of borders. The Muslim travel ban, later ruled discriminatory by lower courts, was a signal to millions: religion and origin now defined worthiness. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was stripped from nations suffering war and disaster. Refugee admissions were slashed to historic lows.

For many immigrants, the message was clear: You are no longer welcome. Not now. Maybe not ever.

The Quiet Collapse of Communities

The damage was not abstract. It was local and immediate. Families that had lived peacefully for decades were torn apart overnight. Churches that once served as places of worship became sanctuaries of survival. Small towns and major cities alike suffered the loss of neighbors, business owners, essential workers.

In the Bronx, a Dominican mother of three was deported after a routine check-in with immigration authorities. In Kansas, a long-time restaurant owner was detained during his shift and deported within days, leaving his employees in tears and his business shuttered. In Los Angeles, children were sent to school in the morning only to return to empty homes.

These stories are not rare. They became a new, grim normal.

America’s Promise, Reconsidered

For much of the world, the United States has long been a symbol of hope—a land of opportunity, however flawed. Immigrants have built this country, fought its wars, paid its taxes, and fueled its economy. Yet under the Trump administration, that legacy was overshadowed by a cold calculus of exclusion.

If America was once the promised land, what did it become under Trump? A place where legality offered no protection. Where contribution offered no security. Where families were not merely discouraged from coming—but actively broken apart.

The Statue of Liberty’s famous poem invites the “tired” and “poor” to come and breathe free. But during Trump’s presidency, that invitation felt rescinded, replaced by a border wall and a bureaucracy designed to say no.

A Wound That Still Heals

Though the Trump era has ended, its effects have not. Many of the policies remain partially intact or legally entangled. Families are still waiting to be reunited. Deportation orders issued under Trump still loom over thousands. And the political winds continue to shift dangerously close to that same rhetoric of fear and exclusion.

But there is resilience.

There are immigrant advocacy groups that have never stopped fighting. There are lawyers working pro bono to reopen asylum cases. There are everyday Americans—teachers, pastors, neighbors—who opened their doors and refused to look away.

The Reckoning Ahead

As the United States navigates its future, it must grapple with the consequences of the Trump years. Repair requires more than policy reversals; it demands moral clarity and national reflection.

Who is this country for? Who gets to belong? And will America once again be a place where hope outweighs fear?

Until those questions are answered—not in slogans, but in laws, in actions, and in hearts—the promise of America remains broken for too many. And the dream that brought millions to its shores will remain deferred.

Dr. Moustapha Fall

Associate Teaching Professor at the University of Victoria in Canada and a research fellow at Gaston Berger University in Africa ]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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