John Sandweg, the former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Barack Obama, recently provided insights into the Trump administration's approach to immigration, focusing on encouraging self-deportation among undocumented immigrants.
According to Breitbart, in a televised interview, Sandweg pointed out how Trump's policies fostered a climate of fear to promote self-deportation.
Sandweg's tenure as the acting ICE Director gave him firsthand experience with immigration enforcement strategies. His observations come from his understanding of the changes in rhetoric and policies from different administrations.
His discussion came during an appearance on "NewsNation Now," where Sandweg compared the impact of Trump's policies to those of Obama, and a lesser extent, Biden, due to differing border conditions over the times.
During his Obama years, Sandweg observed certain continuity in the goals of immigration enforcement but noted significant shifts in strategy under Trump. He stated, "Look, I think we’re going to find here is that the outcomes, maybe this year are not so dramatically different, certainly, let’s say, you compare it to the Obama years."
However, comparing these results to the Biden era proved more complex due to dynamic circumstances at the border, particularly in the latter half of Biden's term before the statement, during which the U.S. witnessed a substantial increase in asylum claims.
This influx, according to Sandweg, burdened ICE's operations, which differed from earlier periods. "We had hundreds of thousands of people come across and making asylum claims, that bogs down ICE and their internal operations," he explained.
Pointing out a strategic pivot under Trump, Sandweg highlighted that there was an overt discussion about self-deportation, moving away from previous policies. "What he’s trying to do, really, not just a mass deportation, but a self-deportation," Sandweg remarked during the broadcast.
This new approach involved removing what Sandweg referred to as "guardrails," a set of protective measures that were perceived to shield immigrants from too harsh actions.
The intent behind stripping these protections was clear—foster an environment so intimidating that undocumented immigrants would choose to leave on their own, avoiding the risk of detention or harsher repercussions.
"They’ve really shifted to overtly discussing that, and they’re not — what they’re trying to do is by taking part of the guardrails off, is create a climate of fear where more people are going to self-deport," said Sandweg.
The former ICE director also touched on the uncertainties involved in assessing the full impact of these changed policies on the lives of immigrants residing in the U.S. Fear of detention or deportation was a significant concern among them.
"What we don’t know yet is what impact this has had on the population that lived here. They’re now looking at this saying, hey, I’m scared now living in the U.S. I might end up in an El Salvadoran prison. I might be detained or deported. I’m just going to leave voluntarily while I can," Sandweg elaborated, predicting a ripple effect from the cultivated fear.
In conclusion, the dialogues and shifts described by Sandweg during his "NewsNation Now" appearance underscore the complex nature of immigration policies and their real-life implications on the ground—highlighting how rhetoric and policy adjustments under different administrations can lead to significantly varied strategies and outcomes.