In last week’s column, we discussed how the Trump administration and right-wing extremists use fearmongering and misinformation to garner support for their actions against marginalized groups. Now, let us discuss what the administration is using these tactics to do.

Fascist societies are characterized by the progressive erosion of human rights. This pattern is present in both Germany under Adolf Hitler and Russia under Joseph Stalin.

Recognizing the Trump administration’s attack on human rights sheds light on right-wing extremists’ authoritarian tendencies and gives us a glimpse into the future of our country.

We have examined Trump’s fearmongering tactics that target immigrants without legal status. In a 2023 interview with independent political commentator Raheem Kassam, he stated that their actions are “poisoning the blood of our nation.”

This remark is intentionally aggressive. Metaphorically speaking, one does not deal with a poison by passively allowing it to exist. Rather, the toxin is dealt with by expelling it from the body. Trump uses this rhetoric to support his idea that illegal immigrants should be forcefully removed by any means necessary. By portraying these people as violent criminals, Trump lays the foundation to excuse his abuse towards human rights.

The Associated Press reports that the Trump administration deported roughly 200 Venezuelan men to the infamous prison camp CEOT in El Salvador under accusations of gang involvement. To justify this, Trump invoked an 18th-century wartime law that allows noncitizens to be deported without due process.

Conservatives may argue that because these people are violent illegal immigrants, that they do not deserve the same due process U.S. citizens are allowed. This is an understandable position given the justifiable anger surrounding gangs and their crimes.

However, this justification ignores why due process is so important. According to the AP, Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) identified many of these Venezuelan people as gang members because of their tattoos.

So, these immigrants are being whisked off to prison camps before they even have the chance to argue that they are not part of any gangs. Even if it was justifiable to do that to criminals, Trump’s orders do not give the judicial system enough time to accurately determine who the criminals are. As a result, many potentially innocent immigrants are sent off to a prison camp without being able to contest their deportation in court.

Along with due process, the Trump administration does not respect the right to free speech. As previously discussed in Issue 5, the Trump administration banned the AP from the White House for using the “Gulf of Mexico” rather than the “Gulf of America.” In this case and others, Trump exercises authoritarian control over news outlets that do not align with his political agenda.

The Trump administration is censoring federal institutions as well. According to Forbes, Trump has flagged 197 words that could trigger reviews or outright rejection of research grant proposals. Essentially, if you request government funding for a research article that includes words such as “bias” or “women,” you will have to look elsewhere for funding.

Researchers should not have to tiptoe around words such as “gender” and “climate change” to obtain funding for their research. But with these bans, Trump mandates his anti-science rhetoric into law.

Regretfully, there are many more examples of the Trump administration blatantly violating its citizens’ rights. I have yet to mention attacks against other minority groups, diminishing federal workers’ rights or the wrongful deportation of legal migrants.

Trump uses the rhetoric surrounding his political opponents to justify eroding our constitutionally protected rights. This is a key pattern present in authoritarian dictatorships throughout history.

The nature of fascism is to keep stripping rights from people. As the Trump administration continues to erode the rights of immigrants, news institutions and minorities alike, what makes you think he will stop with just them?