Donald Trump’s immigration policy paints the world with a broad brush of distrust. He simplifies good and evil into black and white and alienates allies as enemies. This broad brush approach now includes my French wife and son and now makes this personal.
Trump has recently claimed that people from countries touched by the horrors of terrorism would have a difficult time entering the United States. He singled out longtime allies France and Germany by saying they would be subjected to his prejudgment immigration policy of “Extreme Vetting.”
The thought of my wife and millions of other French people entering the United States caused Trump to puff his chest and say:
“We have to have tough, we’re going to have, tough standards… If a person can’t prove what they have to be able to prove they’re not coming into this country”
Does this include my wife and son, or will extreme vetting only apply to certain color French and Germans being taken to small rooms and subjected to proving how they are really going to Disney World?
Putting aside Trump’s slippery slope of ambiguities, keeping people safe is more complex than an “us or not us” color coordinated classification. The French have watched in horror as terrorism has darkened their lives on three horrific occasions.
In each instance it could be easy to simplify hate as black and white. But simplifying hate in such basic terms overlooks how in Paris we live with Muslims as neighbors, each sharing in the sadness of the faceless and violent nature of terrorism.
In Trump’s world where color determines allegiances, mixed families would suddenly find themselves being separated at customs. In his world of discrimination, an American child is left on his own to find his way to his grandparents while his French mother is detained at the border.
The Middle Eastern gentleman who gives my son extra cherries each time we enter his store would be held with suspicion. Also, expatriates like me would find ourselves under the surveillance of a distrustful eye because we are perceived as disloyal Americans because we live in France.
So while Donald Trump promotes isolation, the rest of us stand together to combat the faceless violence of terrorism. While we stand hand in hand in the streets of Paris, healing from the wounds of violence, Trump is portraying the world as a place full of mistrust.
Multiplicity breads wickedness according to Trump, who claimed having a diverse society is akin to committing suicide. On this he said:
“We have problems in Germany and problems in France. It’s their own fault because they allowed people to come into their territory.”
The compassion of inclusion is a weakness for Trump. Apparently, the life where my neighbors and I accept our diversity is a weakness for Trump.
After the attacks in France it didn’t matter that I was American or the guy next to me was from Morocco. We mourned together regardless of color and religion. Trump’s policy of seclusion runs contrary to the unifying spirit of a majority of the world.
So instead of offering solidarity, Donald Trump is articulating a policy of every country for itself. Unfortunately, in the process, my family and the first nation to recognize the independence of the United States are placed under the blanket of disdain.
