Theory

It's not even about policy: it’s about attention grabbing. Deportations under Trump’s first term were lower than the peak levels seen under Obama or Clinton. 

As Justin Smith-Ruiu has recently observed, this trend is indicative of the broader incursion of social media discourse into politics. He argues that we have entered “the 4chan regime,” or one that uses performative, shock-jock cruelty.

The hard work of implementing effective reforms gets lost in the constant pursuit of the next viral moment.