On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump took office for his second presidential term. He has been making big decisions ever since starting his second term. This year, he picked new people for his cabinet and started pushing out policies that he says will make America “stronger,” and his choices have been getting a lot of attention, especially because they show what his main priorities are, like immigration and the economy.
One example of his decisions concerns immigration. Immigration has been one of Trump’s biggest priorities this year, and he has hired more ICE and border patrol agents while ordering more ICE raids in cities across America. Residents in the neighborhood say that they’ve seen more and more ICE raids in their neighborhoods, especially at workplaces like Home Depot and Lowe’s.
Sometimes, ICE agents even go to actual job sites to find undocumented people, and this has increased deportations. Trump’s supporters say that these actions are making the country “safer.” The president can do this because he signed an order that lets immigration officers deport people faster, and to make matters worse, the people who get caught won’t even receive a full court hearing, which means they can automatically be deported. While some people may agree with this, others think he is going too far, especially when it comes to loved ones who are undocumented.
I went out and interviewed people in my neighborhood about what they thought about this, and here is what some people had to say. One resident said, “At first I thought he was trying to keep us safe, but now he’s taking things too far, especially with the deportations and families getting torn apart; it doesn’t feel right.”
Another change that Trump made is that he tried to end birthright citizenship, which is the 14th Amendment, and which states that anyone who is born in the USA is automatically a citizen, even if their parents aren’t U.S. citizens. Trump wants to remove this, so he signed an order to stop it because he says people who are from outside the U.S. are taking advantage of it. Many people disagree with this, and they think this is just hurting families.
Trump and his supporters say pregnant women are coming into the United States illegally just so their child can be born a U.S. citizen. “A lot of parents just want a better life for their kids and want them to have what they never did. My parents came here to give me and my siblings a better life, and I’m thankful for their sacrifice,” said Maria Arellano, a resident in my neighborhood. Thankfully, legal experts say if you were born in the U.S., you are automatically a citizen, which is why judges have turned down Trump’s attempts to stop birthright citizenship.
Continuing with the immigration enforcement. Trump thinks that stricter immigration rules will create more jobs for Americans. He says that undocumented people are stealing the jobs of American citizens, so deporting them helps the economy. Many businesses that hire undocumented immigrants are worried because they rely on them, especially in construction, farming, and other businesses. Overall, the choices Trump has been making this year are making a huge impact on the country, and many people, including the ICE raids and undocumented immigrants being deported, could change the lives of millions of people. This leaves the question of whether the choices Trump is making are actually helping the economy or just hurting it in the long run.
