The summer of 2025 has brought the United States wave after wave of new policies and actions taken by the Trump administration. It seems as though President Trump focuses his efforts on immigration and the rights of immigrants and other groups instead of using his efforts to improve the lives of the American people; instead, he decides to try to tear them down.

Starting back in June, the President signed Proclamation 10949, which prohibits and restricts nationals from certain countries from entering the United States, including Afghanistan, Chad, Burma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, among others. These restrictions prohibit the entry of both immigrants and non-immigrants, as a way to stop the nationals from spreading hate and possible terrorist acts. This act, to me, may somewhat protect national security threats. Still, more importantly, it nurtures Xenophobic ideals, as continuing to enact policies like this just further helps implant Xenophobic ideas and throws all groups of citizens into the category of terrorists. While the President is trying to stop hate speech and thoughts from entering beyond the seas, he’s furthering those same ideas here, on domestic soil.

Just a few days later, the United States was once again the lone veto against an immediate ceasefire between Palestine and Israel, which was not the first time the United States stopped an immediate ceasefire between these two. This action makes me wonder how long it will take. How many people’s lives must be disrupted or destroyed before the United States finally listens to the people of not just the United States, but more importantly, the people whose lives are being destroyed, and when will their voices be heard and matter to bring peace and end this conflict? I simply do not see why the United States sees benefit in letting this conflict continue. There could be an abundance of potential reasons. If it’s money, it really shows our country as a money-hungry, selfish, monstrous group of people; however, if it is for getting rid of terrorist groups, it’s not worth it. Seeing what is being lost for what could be gained, it’s simply becoming too high a price that should never have been risked in the first place. Now I know the war between the two is not due to the United States and the United States alone, but when we do have such a high ability to potentially stop this conflict, I see no reason why we don’t. 

Throughout the summer, Trump has issued numerous orders related to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and immigration raids. But on June 6, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was finally returned safely back into the United States after a long battle and court orders issuing his return from El Salvador. However, things did not stay peaceful as Trump sent over 2,000 of California’s Coast Guard to stop riots that started in Los Angeles due to ICE raids that started a few days prior. The state of California did not take the use of its own Coast Guard lying down, as it filed a lawsuit, claiming that Trump’s use of the Coast Guard was illegal. However, it was ruled that Trump could utilize the Coast Guard as he saw fit. Trump has pulled many of the Coast Guard agents and 700 Marines out of California since that time. Many of these actions just don’t sit right with me. I’m more than happy that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States safely and has been returned to his family. Still, the other decisions made, such as the deployment of the Coast Guard to stop peaceful protests that were happening, enabled the Coast Guard to respond with physical force in response to marching and holding signs; it makes no sense. President Trump ran on the idea that he was the “champion of free speech,” yet he can’t let peaceful protesters speak up and challenge the actions of his party and administration. Why are they not allowed to call out the wrong that they are seeing?

Trump later decided to open up Aligator Alcatraz, a giant holding facility for those who are detained by ICE. This facility can accommodate up to 3,000 to 5,000 people at its maximum capacity. However, when many officials have toured this facility, they have come back saying that it is a dehumanizing space not fit for humans to stay. The reason for these statements comes from members of Congress who reported seeing hundreds of people stuffed into cages, 32 people per cage, wall to wall, crying out for help and screaming “libertad.” Spanish for freedom. These people are stuffed into cages amidst sweltering heat in the Florida Everglades. They were subjected to bug-infested, meager meals and poor conditions. With the information provided to the public by high-ranking officials, I would also agree that this is just downright dehumanizing behavior. It is disgusting that this would be viewed as okay at all. Treating these people like they’re animals or monsters who should be locked in cages and thrown away is dehumanizing. Honestly, this reminds me of the treatment the United States gave people in Japanese internment camps, which, in WWII, was similar to the concentration camps Nazi Germany kept Jewish people in. Now, is it an equal comparison? No, but do they share scary parallels with their treatment of the people kept there? Absolutely. A facility like this has no place existing in our modern world; it’s a barbaric, monstrous way to go about the issue of immigration. 

Overall, the actions taken by Trump’s administration against these groups over the past few months have been nothing but unfair, barbaric and hypocritical. I’m hoping that we see a change in how President Trump treats these groups and that he will grow a conscience, realizing what he is doing to so many lives.