Two individuals can have a productive, rational, and deeply satisfying argument over the merits of a more restrictionist versus a more inclusive immigration policy. We do not have this debate because the political leadership in the country has evaded it. What we do have is, among several disruptive behaviors,  scapegoating of immigrants.

Donald Trump appears often to scapegoat immigrants, primarily as the cause of violence, but also stealing jobs. There’s an element in his rhetoric which suggests the so-called scapegoat mechanism of collective violence. This was articulated by René Girard (1923-2015), a French philosopher who taught at Stanford and one of whose students is Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire and erstwhile supporter of trump.

Elements of the scapegoat mechanism:

Social tensions intensify, seen in an increase in a phenomenon of severe competition over status and identity. We can see this within the right (at the Mar a Lago court) and within the left (virtue signaling, censoring).

Release of tensions: this can involve group action to blame an individual or group. The scapegoat is often chosen arbitrarily, typically someone who stands out as different or vulnerable. Poor unauthorized immigrants fit this profile.

By focusing collective violence on a single target, the community temporarily sets aside internal rivalries and conflicts. The act of scapegoating provides a cathartic release for the community’s destructive tensions. Blaming a scapegoat gives the illusion of control over complex, systemic problems.  Doesn’t this seem like a conventional behavior of Trump?

Girard argues that for scapegoating to be effective, the community must be unconscious of the mechanism. They must genuinely believe in the scapegoat’s guilt.

It is quite remarkable that the mass deportation idea runs completely afoul of the legal protections afforded any resident of the United States. I have posted recently on the complex steps from detaining an individual in the United States and deporting them.