On being crushed - Matina Stevis-Gridneff in NYT:

‘It was June 27. Rahel had been under a deportation order from the United States for 22 years, ever since she fled her native Eritrea and entered the U.S. with a fake British passport. But because the U.S. does not deport people to Eritrea, she had been allowed to stay in the country.
Around regular visits with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, she married, had two children, went to college and became a nurse. She led a model life.

But when Donald Trump won the 2024 election, she understood that the immigration system was about to drastically change. Her ICE case agent made this clear in March when she fitted her with an ankle monitor and told her she needed to find another country. “We don’t want you or your children to suffer,” she recalled her saying. “You need to leave, now.”’

(…)

‘Interviews with lawyers and nongovernmental organizations suggest that since President Trump took office in January, Canadian border agents have been coming up with new, unwritten protocols to prevent asylum seekers in the United States from entering the country. Harsher questioning is more common, and agents are quickly — sometimes in just hours — handing asylum seekers back to ICE, giving lawyers and family members little time to react.
Rahel, who had spent years living in Michigan and later Maryland, seemed to be caught up in this phenomenon.
Her interview at the border turned sour fast. The agent didn’t seem to know much about the conditions in Eritrea and seemed reluctant to acknowledge that U.S. immigration enforcement had changed since Mr. Trump returned to office. (The Times obtained a transcript of the interview.)’

(…)

‘At the end of the day, the agent rejected the evidence that Rahel was Eritrean, despite the copy of her birth certificate. She rejected the DNA test proving Medhanie was Rahel’s brother because she didn’t have an accompanying administrative document. She told Rahel, flatly, that she would be sent back to the United States immediately.
Rahel began to sob. “God knows where they’ll deport me to,” she cried.
The boy was shocked, but he held Rahel and tried to comfort her. “Mommy, you’ll be OK,” he said.
Rahel was certain that ICE would separate her from her son, so she tried to prepare him during the short drive back to the U.S. border.’

(…)

‘Rahel was moved from one place to the next until eventually she boarded a plane, its destination unclear. She realized that, if there were an emergency, she would not be able to reach the oxygen mask with her shackled hands.
She complained to an ICE officer.
“Nothing we can do,” she said he told her. “These are the rules.” She couldn’t stop imagining that the cabin would experience air loss and she would die trying to reach her mask.
When the plane landed, Rahel saw that another detainee had begun menstruating and blood had seeped through her clothes and onto her seat. She would remain like this, blood drenching her clothes, as she moved from the plane to buses and walked in front of dozens of officers.’

(…)

‘Rahel was transported to a detention center in El Valle, Texas, where she would spend three months. Government records obtained by The New York Times show that she was booked as a “bag and baggage” case, the designation used by the Department of Homeland Security for an immigrant in the final stages of deportation.’

(…)

‘Then, at the end of the summer, an email from the Canadian Justice Department landed in Ms. Neufeld’s inbox: On Sept. 2, Rahel would get a second chance to argue her case in front of a Canadian officer. ICE, the email informed her, had agreed to transport her from Texas back to Peace Bridge.’

(…)

‘Finally, three hours later than planned, ICE again drove Rahel to the Canadian side of the border and dropped her off.
“What will you do if they reject you again?” one of the officers asked. “Will you come back?” “I will not entertain this kind of negativity,” she said, smiling at them. She got out of the car and walked into the waiting room.’

(…)

‘Minutes after 10 p.m., the door to the building opened. Rahel held her son’s hand as they stepped out into the warm night and walked to her husband’s car, parked on the Canadian side of the border. She had been searching for a country to claim as her own for more than two decades. Finally, it seemed, she had found one.’

Read the article here.

The happy ending is the exception. Most of cases like Rahel’s will have not such a hopeful end.

If this is what it means to keep the US safe, you can ask, why do you need enemies? Many other countries can ask themselves the same question.