There are chapters in a nation’s history so jarring, so steeped in injustice, that they leave an indelible mark on its collective conscience. The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency stand as one of those haunting chapters –– a period when the core values of American democracy were pushed to the brink by a government that cast aside the very Constitution it swore to defend.
Human Rights Watch didn’t mince words — it labeled Trump’s first 100 days “an assault on the rights of many Americans.” But let’s call it what it truly is: a nightmare unfolding in real time. A horror show, where due process is discarded, and the lives of immigrants — especially Black and brown ones — are sacrificed on the altar of political spectacle. Fear now walks freely across the land, as it does in regimes where power is unchecked, and human dignity is expendable.
This isn’t governance. This is targeted persecution.
From day one, the Trump administration has trampled on the legal protections meant to shield asylum seekers, naturalized citizens, and permanent residents. Court orders are treated as mere suggestions, not binding rulings. In one of the most egregious examples, Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a Salvadoran man fleeing danger — was deported in direct defiance of a federal court’s order. The cruelty didn’t stop there. His family –– including young children –– were forced into hiding after the government deliberately exposed their home address online. This isn’t bureaucratic failure. This is calculated cruelty, weaponized against the vulnerable.
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And it didn’t end with Abrego Garcia.
Immigrants have been forcibly deported to El Salvador under conditions so secretive and severe, they amount to enforced disappearances. Asylum seekers from diverse nations are being expelled to Panama and Costa Rica, in blatant violation of international law. These are not one-off mistakes –– they are part of a calculated and coordinated purge, aimed squarely at the communities that have long enriched and sustained the soul of American society.
And disturbingly, not even U.S. citizens are beyond the reach of this escalating injustice.
Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a dual citizen, was detained by ICE for nearly two days in Florida during a routine traffic stop — simply because he looked undocumented. His Social Security card was brushed aside. His citizenship, dismissed. His trauma? Real and lasting.
Then there is 19-year-old Jose Hermosillo, arrested and detained for nearly 10 days in Tucson, Arizona — because he allegedly said he was Mexican. Authorities either ignored or didn’t care that he was a U.S. citizen with a learning disability. He said he told them the truth. No one listened.
And let us not forget those detained for speaking out.
Palestinian student and green-card holder Mohsen Mahdawi, a peaceful protester at Columbia University, was apprehended by ICE in Vermont during a naturalization interview. His only “crime?” Standing for Palestine.
Mahmoud Khalil, another green card holder, has been detained since early March for the same reason — protesting against the horrific war in Gaza that has left over 50,000 dead and many now starving. A judge ruled that his deportation was reasonable because it could impact U.S. foreign policy. Let that sink in: a protest, an exercise of free speech, became grounds for exile.
This is not democracy. This is autocracy, dressed in red, white, and blue.
The tragedy deepens with the stories of legal permanent residents like Fabian Schmidt, detained at Boston Logan Airport, and Lewelyn Dixon, an elderly Filipino green card holder, arrested in Washington state. Six Bhutanese men living peacefully in Pennsylvania, all green card holders, were taken by ICE without explanation. No reason. No warning. No justice.
And then, there is the story of Nascimento Blair — a Jamaican green card holder deported in shackles after a past mistake he had already paid for. He had rebuilt his life, earned degrees, mentored the formerly incarcerated, and cared for a sick fiancée. But in Trump’s America, redemption has no place for immigrants — only retribution.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker put it plainly: “The United States Constitution guarantees due process. We are witnessing Donald Trump erode our fundamental constitutional rights in real time.”
I echo that sentiment. As an immigrant, a journalist, and a woman of color, I watch with heartbreak and fury as Trump’s America targets the vulnerable, silences dissent, and turns a blind eye to the humanity of those who look like me.
We must never forget what happened during these 100 days. We must continue to speak out, to organize, and to protect our communities from the return of such horror.
For in the words of Elie Wiesel, “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” And we cannot afford to be indifferent.
Felicia J. Persaud is the publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, a daily news outlet focused on positive news about Black immigrant communities from the Caribbean and Latin America.
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