Did Trump turn mellower towards immigrants, Muslims? We’re confused

Donald Trump condemned violence against immigrants, but did not spell out his plans to restrict crime against the minorities.

Washington, March 1: US President Donald Trump's first speech to Congress on Tuesday has been closely watched by all. While many have viewed the content of his speech as a major 'overhaul' in functioning of Trump administration---especially against immigrants and Muslims--a closer look at the key points of his address is just a restructuring of his earlier policies---mainly 'America First' and 'Mexican border wall'.

At the very onset of his speech, Trump condemned 'hate' in all its ugly forms, especially the threats targeting Jewish centres and the killing of Indian-origin techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, in Kansas recently.

Indians across the world were waiting for some amount of assurance from the President himself against hate crimes perpetrated against immigrants and minorities in recent past since the time Trump took over the White House.

However, in the same breath he said, "America must put its citizens first, because only then can we truly make America great again." "To protect our citizens, I have directed the Justice Department to form a Task Force on reducing violent crime," he added.

This clearly indicates that non-citizens of the country are still 'second-class' people and there is no full guarantee of their safety by the new US administration. Trump's 'America First' agenda--a slogan since his campaigning days--makes its appearance once again in his speech with much vigour. The POTUS is firm in his commitment to enforce stricter immigration laws to help Americans 'get jobs and save dollars and citizens'.

"By finally enforcing immigration laws, we will raise wages, help unemployed, save billions of dollars and make our communities safer." He stresses on the need to 'buy American and hire American' to keep 'outsiders' away from the economic process in the country.

And last but not the least Trump is not giving away his commitment to build the Mexican border wall, a policy plan to stop Mexicans entering the country that has been widely-criticised by his opponents. "We will soon begin the construction of a great, great wall along our southern border," said the US President.

OneIndia News