According to a new memo, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to deport thousands of immigrants to countries that are not their homelands. The Trump administration’s actions to send people to places like Libya and South Sudan are seen as intended to intimidate non-citizens of the United States.
The origins of deportation regulations date back to the aftermath of World War II, when the world reeled from the tragedy of the Holocaust. The international principle of ‘non-refoulement’ was born, prohibiting the deportation of refugees to places where they risk persecution or torture.
The 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1984 Convention Against Torture have solidified this principle, forbidding the sending of anyone to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing they will face the danger of torture.
Author Noah Feldman, a law professor at Harvard University, argues that the Trump administration’s efforts to send people to places where they fear torture or persecution go against the spirit of the global commitment of ‘Never again,’ a promise made after the horrors of the Holocaust. He emphasizes that any such threat of deportation, regardless of the legal process allowed by the Supreme Court, is shameful.
This article, published in The Seattle Times, is a legal and ethical analysis of the current administration’s immigration policies, drawing parallels to significant historical events to highlight their profound implications.
