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Borders In Our Future
Trump v Hawaii (2016), one of the few Supreme Court cases in which former President Donald Trump prevailed, provides an unsettling glimpse at Trump’s immigration/deportation policy.
The vote was 5–4.
One of the hallmarks of a democracy in decline is restricting access of its citizens to travel within its boundaries and conversely to deporting individuals of “foreign origin and descent.” Borders work two ways — borders keep ‘undesirables’ out; borders threaten the politically marginalized within. According to the Supreme Court in Trump v Hawaii (2018) all that is required is the authority vested in the executive branch to deny selected segments of the population free and unrestricted travel, and the resources to enforce separation from one’s domicile. (1)
“In the spring of 2018, all eyes were on the U. S. Supreme Court, where oral arguments over the final version of the Trump travel ban were being heard. On the last day of the term in June. 2018, the court handed down its decision in Trump v Hawaii. By a 5–4 margin, the justices upheld the final version of the travel ban. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the five justices in the majority, determined that despite Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric, the government had demonstrated ‘ a sufficient national security justification’ for the September 2017 Proclamation, which had replaced the original executive…
