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Trump Doubles Down on Xenophobic Promises, Plans to Unveil New Muslim Ban

The day after DHS released documents detailing the Trump administration's aggressive plan to mass-deport undocumented immigrants, the president is poised to unveil a new iteration of the failed Muslim ban—one with "the same basic policy outcome" as the...

Below is what happened on Trump's 23rd day in office. You can find out what damage was done every other day so far on the Saddest Calendar on the Internet.

Many of Trump's campaign promises were built on outright xenophobia. Despite the notorious failure of his administration's Muslim ban, the former steak salesman-turned-Commander-in-Chief remains unwaveringly committed to making these words into policy.

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Documents released by the Department of Homeland Security yesterday, which were obtained by the New York Times, reveal a disturbingly aggressive plan to mass-deport undocumented immigrants. The two DHS memos outline the department's plan to prioritize deporting "removable aliens" who have been charged or convicted of any criminal offense; instruct the director of the ICE to "expeditiously hire 10,000 agents and officers"; provide regular reports to the public pertaining to "alien apprehensions and releases"; expedite the deportation process; build new detention facilities; and immediately start planning the construction of the Mexico border wall.

The New York Times highlights some particularly troubling aspects of the proposed policies, including language that would "vastly [expand] the definition of 'criminal aliens'" as well as an explicit warning "that such unauthorized immigrants 'routinely victimize Americans,' disregard the 'rule of law and pose a threat' to people in communities across the United States."

Because one sweeping, unconstitutional policy is not enough, the Trump administration is concurrently revising the Muslim ban. While the new executive order has been on the horizon for the past week, news outlets like CNN are reporting that it could be expected as early as today.

Trump himself described the new order at a news conference last Thursday, albeit in typically vague, self-aggrandizing terms: "We are issuing a new executive action next week that will comprehensively protect our country," he said. "We will be going along the one path, and hopefully winning that; at the same time, we will be issuing a new and very comprehensive order to protect our people. That will be done sometime next week, toward the beginning or middle at the latest part."

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While we won't know what exactly the new order entails until it is released, CNN reports that it "is likely to be considerably narrower than the initial version," speculating that permanent US residents (green card holders) would likely be exempt from the ban. But according to White House adviser Stephen Miller, who claimed there was "nothing was wrong with the first executive order" on Fox News, the new ban will not differ much from the original and will have "the same basic policy outcome."

If that is the case, the reaction will also not differ much from the original.


That's bleak. Who's fighting it?

The ACLU and other civil rights advocacy groups are already preparing to challenge the immigration policy in court.