‘Reverse migration’ is reversal of the law and common sense
It is true that sometimes after an announcement by President Trump or by a top administration official that sounds off the wall, it is modified, postponed or rescinded. One reason for this is backlash to the announcement. However others might respond to a recent element of the administration’s immigration policy, it is dead wrong.
The administration is responding to the shooting death in Washington, DC, of a member of the West Virginia National Guard, Sarah Beckstrom, a US Army Specialist. She was allegedly shot by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who was resettled in the US from Afghanistan after having assisted US forces there. Lakanwal also greviously wounded another member of the West Virginia National Guard. He is under arrest for first degree murder and other charges.
The administration’s response is to search for ways to deport legal immigrants. The logic, if you can call it that, is that these legal immigrants were born in the wrong country.
It is one thing to pause immigration from countries like Afghanistan in order to reexamine vetting and security procedures. It is something else entirely to deport a legal immigrant. For the record, the accused murderer, Lakanwal, is not a legal immigrant; he came to the US temporarily under humanitarian parole, and then, once in the country, was granted asylum. Had the deportation of legal immigrants been in place before the shootings in Washington, Lakanwal would not have been deported; his status was anomalous.
If the deportation of legal immigrants to the US is actually undertaken, it will:
• make a mockery of the law;
• discourage legal immigration;
• undermine the word of the US government;
• complicate any effort to hold illegal immigrants accountable.
The deportation of legal immigrants in the context of the alleged crimes of an Afghan immigrant would also cast aspersions on the tens of thousands of Afghans who risked their lives to aid American soldiers, and would put American soldiers at risk in any future conflict in which they needed the cooperation of locals. This would not put American first. It would put America last.
The administration has a list of the wrong countries, i.e., countries deemed too dangerous to allow its citizens to become legal immigrants or even visitors to the US. That is to say, every single person from that country could pose a lethal danger to the US. How could it be otherwise, the administration asks? This is how it could be otherwise: Vet the individual applicant.
This is precisely what has been done in hundreds thousands of cases of legal immigrants. That the process failed in the case of Lakanwal may mean that the vetting process needs to be tightened or, simply, that no process is perfect.
One could argue that the vetting process for emigration to the US is flawed indeed if someone like Lakanwal was let in —and the Boulder bomber, too. The same argument could be put this way: If the vetting process for emigration to the US has worked for hundreds of thousands of people and failed twice, the process is excellent.
The administration seems to be exploiting the tragic shooting of two American National Guard members to crack down on all emigration to the US, including legal emigration. Trump posts: “ONLY REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation.” Really? It is highly unlikely that the process of deporting tens or hundreds of thousands of legal residents of the US could be done without precipitating another tragedy.
Common sense says that you can’t just take hundreds of thousands of people who have followed every rule, done nothing wrong, settled into a new life in the US — often waiting many years for the privilege — and expect that they can all be summarily uprooted with impunity. Somewhere along the line, someone will break. “Reverse migration” is “reversal of the law.” It won’t work. It’s not right.
As to legal immigrants to the US who lied on their applications, no new law or policy is needed to deal with such people.
No words can express our gratitude for the ultimate sacrifice made by Sarah Beckstrom, and for her family. Let her rest in peace, not used as a club to hurt people needlessly, people who came to America legally.
© IJN 2025
