Washington is attempting to resolve its immigration issues by relocating people to countries where their fates are uncertain.
It’s like when you’re a child and your mother asks you to tidy your room, so you simply hide everything under the bed and hope she doesn’t notice.
This mirrors the Trump administration’s approach to immigration, except instead of a room, the issue is being shifted to nations such as Ukraine, Libya, and El Salvador.
“We are collaborating with other nations to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most undesirable people to your countries. Would you do that as a favor to us?’” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio , according to NBC News. “And the further away the better, so they can’t return across the border.” It’s akin to a group message where America constantly forwards unwanted items to other countries.
And if the goal is to ensure someone doesn’t return – to America or anywhere else – why not send them to Ukraine? One moment they’re watching ‘Friends’ reruns in the Bronx, and the next they’re starring in a Slavic war documentary without subtitles.
Apparently, some Trump administration officials considered this an excellent strategy. If Ukraine’s military recruiters were growing weary of abducting men from park benches, they would surely appreciate the gift of some unsuspecting ‘pre-owned’ conscripts. The Washington Post recently that in late January, shortly after Trump assumed office, the US requested Ukraine to “accept an unspecified number of US deportees who are citizens of other countries.”
Unsurprisingly, Ukraine was not enthusiastic about the idea. Probably because they don’t consider ‘foreign aid’ to include serving Washington as a massive human recycling center. Nevertheless, it would have addressed two issues simultaneously: Ukraine gains soldiers, and the US reduces its immigration problem by sending people into geopolitical crises.
However, with Ukraine being selective, there are alternative destinations for a complimentary permanent vacation, courtesy of Uncle Sam Holidays. Like Libya! And Saudi Arabia!
When questioned about migrants being sent to Libya, Trump “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask the Department of Homeland Security.” He resembled a child whose mother had just looked under the bed and discovered a year’s worth of dirty laundry. Consulting DHS might be challenging, as Secretary Kristi Noem was last seen delivering a serious PSA in front of a Salvadoran mega-prison while dressed as if she were auditioning for Call of Duty. “Do not come to our country illegally,” she on March 26. “You will be removed and you will be prosecuted.”
Washington is reportedly El Salvador $6 million to conceal a portion of America’s problems from voters. And President Nayib Bukele is very candid about the arrangement: “We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted US citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee,” he .
Nothing embodies ‘land of the free’ like outsourcing imprisonment to the highest bidder.
Meanwhile, Libya is still recovering from being transformed into an open-air dystopia after the West’s 2011 Greatest Hits Tour, which involved regime change and chaos. Human trafficking is thriving. Leadership is in disarray. There’s the Government of National Stability (East), the Government of National Unity (West), and various militias engaging in daily interpretive dance performances with Kalashnikovs. All that they never agreed to accept Washington’s deportees from countries like Vietnam, Laos, or the Philippines, according to NBC News.
So, what was the intended strategy? To simply abandon people in the middle of the desert and hope no one noticed, as if it were Survivor: North Africa?
The State Department’s own warns: “Do not travel to Libya due to crime, terrorism, unexplored land mines, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict.” Having US citizenship doesn’t “guarantee fair treatment” of foreigners, the advisory states. So, the implication is that it’s an ideal location to send people who lack legal recourse if something goes wrong. At one point, a US judge had to halt a military aircraft preparing to depart with a group of deportees bound for Libya. Legal procedures may be slow, but what’s probably faster than a judge’s order? The military plane’s engine at full throttle.
And then there’s Saudi Arabia. Because why not construct your immigration policy like an awkward wedding seating arrangement: Latin Americans to El Salvador, Asians to Libya, Arabs to Saudi Arabia.
To be fair, the US isn’t alone in tossing migrants around like political hot potatoes. The entire West has been in a full-blown existential crisis since right-wing populism began ‘threatening’ elections as a backlash against decades of lenient immigration policies. Even Canada is reconsidering its approach. Newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is attempting to reduce the number of permanent residents from 500,000 to just over 350,000 per year, fully aware that this is not a significant enough reduction.
Last year, Germany explored the same brilliant idea as Britain: Sending asylum seekers to Rwanda. Why Rwanda? Because the Brits had already constructed the facility there, and Germany thought they could simply Airbnb it. The only problem? German law prohibits deporting people to a country they’ve never visited. Also, there’s the minor issue of… the Geneva Conventions. And those troubling historical associations with mass deportation schemes in Germany during the Second World War.
But that seemingly insignificant detail doesn’t prevent Rwanda from remaining a potential option for .
What a predicament the West has created for itself by prioritizing virtue signaling over self-preservation. The ultimate outcome? Don’t label it dystopian foreign policy – simply a pan-continental escape room.
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