Trump Ends DACA, Intensifies Fascism

The timing couldn’t be worse for the 575,000 undocumented immigrants in Houston after Hurricane Harvey. Racist President Donald Trump shut down DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, effectively putting 800,000 young people at risk of deportation. This signifies the rise of concentration-camp style fascism for a section of the working class. The possible, but unlikely, action of Congress to pass a new DACA program will be an opportunity for liberal fascism via military service.
Trump tweeted, “We are a nation of laws. No longer will we incentivize illegal immigration. Make no mistake, we are going to put the interest of AMERICAN CITIZENS FIRST!”
Intensified racism, nationalism, and use of “law and order” to terrorize workers are some of the hallmarks of rising fascism.  
Horrors for the Working Class
DACA was a concession by then-president Obama after hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of undocumented-led youth fought for legalization and immigration justice. Their actions included occupations, demonstrations, marches, hunger strikes, blocking deportation buses, and more. The Dreamers Movement centered around a liberal narrative of “deservingness,” which not only reinforced the racist good-bad immigrant divide, but also was patriotic and legalist in nature (analysis of the movement in future issue).  
Unsurprisingly, DACA coincided with the largest deportation operation in U.S. history under the first Black president who ran on a progressive Democrat ticket. In exchange for voluntarily giving their biometrics, address, and all personal information to the government, DACA recipients were permitted to work, study, serve in the military with the promise to delay, not block, their deportation for two years.
Losing DACA is about more than the looming threat of deportation; it’s about fostering unlivable conditions, which may lead to what Friedrich Engels, called “social murder.” The prospect of being robbed of their jobs, education, right to drive, and housing is capitalist violence. Many may not be able to support their families or keep a roof over their heads. “…In Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, they would be barred entirely from enrolling in some colleges and universities” (NYT, 9/7).
War-Driven Concerns for the Ruling Class
Don’t mistake the outcry of big-time mouthpieces and politicians as compassion for the working class. Obama laid out ruling-class concerns very clearly: “’It is self-defeating— because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love’” (9/5). DACA youth are good for U.S. imperialism and their war drive. Many in the main wing of the ruling class understand that. Ostensibly, Trump does not. To some, it may look like ruling class anarchy. Within the bosses’ camp, there are deep-sown divisions and lack of centralization and discipline. This disarray flares up during a period of decline of the U.S. empire. In their infighting, blatant Nazi racism won out.
The DACA decision complicates their war plans. DACA soldiers applied to the exclusive military program MAVNI (Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest). “[It was] designed to exchange fast-tracked citizenship for crucial medical and language skills among foreign-born recruits. The program has rotated 10,400 troops into the military since 2009” (Washington Post, 9/7). One look at North Korea, Afghanistan, and China, and it’s clear they are going to need those troops.
Secondarily, they are worried about economic stagnation: “So this is a double blow to the U.S. economy; it will make everyone worse off. A cohort of relatively high-wage, highly motivated people mostly in their 20s, likely to pay lots of taxes for decades, is exactly what the doctor ordered” (NYT, 9/5).
Break the Racist Narrative
As if dividing the working class along the lines of race, gender, and nationality wasn’t enough, the rulers drive a wedge between “good undocumented immigrants” and “bad undocumented immigrants.” Part of the liberal pity over DACA is that the program was for the “hardworking, model civic citizens” who had so much “talent” to contribute to this warmongering nation. This put undocumented youth on the path of nation building, nationalism, and war.
All undocumented workers—DACA-eligible or not—must be defended by the rest of their working-class brothers and sisters. Workers migrate out of necessity because the choice is always between the degrees or types of oppression. The stateless undocumented Rohingya people choose to flee to the floods and mass poverty in Bangladesh over ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. Similarly, people in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras choose possible death across the border over mass anti-worker violence in their countries of origin.
We don’t get to choose our choices under capitalism. For the millions undocumented and refugees families across the world, there is one choice to end all state violence and terror. That’s the choice of communism. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats can provide a solution because they are part of the capitalist state. Thousands took the streets after Trump’s decision, and more are looking for answers. In the name of a better world, wherever we are, seek out a community organization near you or organize in your schools, workplaces, and unions to stand with, and fight with, undocumented workers. Progressive Labor Party fights for a world without borders. Join us now.