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Immigrant distrust is unfounded

In yet another attempt to criminalize and marginalize immigrants, President Donald Trump recently ordered the creation of an office under the Department of Homeland Security called VOICE, which stands for Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement.

The office, which would handle crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, is nothing short of alienating. It sure serves his strategy, but has no factual basis.

The argument that a special division is needed to deal exclusively with crimes committed by immigrants is unfounded. Both documented and undocumented immigrants commit crimes at a significantly lower rate than American-born citizens, according to multiple studies.

Using numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, associate professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts Bianca E. Bersani conducted a study that showed about 17 percent of first-generation immigrants age 16 have committed a crime in the last year, while the number is 25 percent for native-born Americans.

The effort to publicize and highlight the crimes committed only by immigrants is an attempt to distort the narrative and give the impression that they commit more crimes than the native population, and therefore should be handled differently. Not only that, but it suggests that they should be under constant scrutiny and surveillance.

To an administration that creates and feeds its own alternative facts, it seems irrelevant if the foundation of one of their programs is disseminating falsehoods and contributing to the marginalization of people on a large scale.

To President Trump, it also does not seem to matter how similar this technique is to Nazi Germany’s to demonize minority groups and justify their dehumanization, leading to genocide. Both measures were closely tied with nationalism and safety as means of justification, and Trump’s call for order through VOICE provides a glance at a past we should be terrified of revisiting.

In this game of ‘us vs. them,’ the basic societal value of coexistence is at risk, and we all end up losing when turning on each other to release the frustrations of unfounded paranoia. While making a case for national security and order, fear-mongering is undoubtedly Trump’s best ally, especially if the fight is against an invisible enemy.

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Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.

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