Donald Trump is further considering his proposal to bus illegal immigrants to “sanctuary cities” after his own administration declared the proposal dead. Trump rebelled against his own administration to push this policy forward, which should be a warning sign that the policy is set up to fail.
Trump claimed in a tweet that this policy should make democrats “very happy” due to open arms policies that democrats tend to support. Trump is trying to act as though this policy is set up to “please” his opponents, when the proposal itself is just bad and doesn’t make any sense.
Vox reporter Dara Lind questions Trump’s true motivations. In a recent article, she expressed doubt that Trump’s motivations are to please democrats, speculating that he’s actually trying to get democrats to think “that releasing immigrants onto the streets of San Francisco would cause crime and disruption, or that the people of San Francisco are secretly just as anti-immigrant as he is and would freak out if they actually saw immigrants in their neighborhoods.”
Trump called on democratic lawmakers in a tweet stating “Democrats must change the Immigration Laws FAST. If not, Sanctuary Cities must immediately ACT to take care of the Illegal Immigrants – and this includes Gang Members, Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers, and Criminals of all shapes, sizes and kinds. CHANGE THE LAWS NOW!”
This tweet indicates Trump’s true motivations, which are to get his opponents to look like hypocrites by turning on their “open arms” policies, even though Trump’s migrant proposal will most likely fail. Placing every illegal immigrant in one city would suddenly increase poverty levels in certain cities, and would give these cities room to support themselves alongside new residents.
Political analyst Aaron Blake stated his belief that Trump is bluffing to put those living in sanctuary cities in the position of saying they cannot take immigrants, posing them to look like hypocrites in the eyes of Republicans. “This likely isn’t actually a serious policy consideration by Trump. He likes to stir the pot,” stated Aaron Blake.
While it’s most likely that Trump is trying to elicit a reaction from his opponents, or the Democratic Party, Trump signaled that he is trying to move forward with the policy. “Those Illegal Immigrants who can no longer be legally held (Congress must fix the laws and loopholes) will be, subject to Homeland Security, given to Sanctuary Cities and States!” Stated Trump in a tweet.
Trump’s agenda is to manipulate the Democratic Party into looking like hypocrites, due to this policy being framed as Trumps take on an “open arms” policy, when the reason Trump is facing opposition is not because of fear of immigrants, but rather because the policy is set up by Trump to fail.