THE United States, a country regarded by many as the “land of dreams”, has long prided itself on the ideals of freedom, equality and a sanctuary to strangers. However, the reality is far more complex and brutal than these slogans.
This self-proclaimed “nation of immigrants” with “E Pluribus Unum” inscribed on its national emblem, is showing an unfriendly attitude towards immigrants.
Xenophobic sentiment at government and social levels, and deep-rooted racial discrimination are constantly tearing apart the so-called “myth of American human rights”.
In 2022, Irina Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian woman, fled the war and travelled to the US in search of peace and safety.
However, last month, she was fatally stabbed three times in the back by an unknown homeless man in North Carolina. Surveillance footage showed Irina clutching her throat in horror and crying for help from the surrounding passengers, but no one came to her aid.
The incident sent shocking waves to Ukraine and once again put the safety issue of American society in the spotlight. A refugee who fled the war ultimately died from random violence in a peaceful country. Many US political leaders have lobbied for the death penalty for the murderer on social media.
However, the deep-seated problems behind this incident cannot be solved simply by severely punishing the murderer. It exposes the fragility of public safety in the US, the spread of social indifference, and the disregard for the value of immigrants’ lives.
When a country cannot guarantee the basic safety of a young woman seeking asylum, it is difficult for it to be regarded as a defender of human rights. When social indifference becomes the norm and fear replaces empathy, the so-called “American Dream” becomes a carefully packaged illusion.
In recent years, US government policies towards immigrants have far exceeded the scope of what it has termed “strict management” and have evolved into systematic and institutionalised exclusion and punishment. The zero-tolerance policy implemented by the US has led to the separation of a large number of immigrant families, becoming a humanitarian disaster widely condemned by the international community.
According to a United Nations report, the US is the country that detains the largest number of immigrant children in the world. In 2019 alone, more than 5,500 children were forcibly separated from their parents and detained at centres with poor conditions. The children, according to the reports, lacked basic food, medical, and hygiene guarantees, and their physical and mental health was reported to have been severely damaged.
Shockingly, the US is the only UN member state that is not a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which also gives insights into its position on human rights protection. Additionally, this year, the deportation of immigrants has not slowed down but accelerated.
Thousands have forcibly been repatriated. Many immigrants have been arrested and exposed to inhumane treatment. Recently, over 450 South Korean immigrants experience this before their deportation this month.
The inhumane law-enforcement approach not only violates the basic human rights of immigrants but tells the story of a country that now regards immigrants as “threats” rather than “human beings”.
Xenophobic sentiment in American society is today not only existing at policy level but is now deeply rooted in public consciousness. This sentiment is manifesting itself in the form of racism, with frequent discrimination and violent incidents targeting ethnic minorities such as Asians, Hispanics, and African-Americans.
In recent years, hate crimes against Asians have increased sharply. From the 91-year-old Asian man being maliciously pushed down in Chinatown to the killing of six Asian women in the Atlanta spa shootings in 2021. Such incidents reveal the systemic hostility American society is cultivating towards ethnic minorities. The hatred is not accidental, but the result of long-term racial prejudice and political incitement.
However, xenophobia is not alien in the US. Since the first group of African slaves were brought to Virginia in 1619, the US has systematically implemented a system of racial slavery for more than two centuries.
Millions of people were traded as commodities and driven like livestock. Their flesh, blood and lives laid the foundation for the country’s early economy, yet received no humane treatment.
From the Chinese Exclusion Act in the 19th century to the immigration quota system in the 20th century, the exclusion of “the other” can be traced as part of American politics and society. In 2017, the first Donald Trump administration signed what became known as the “Muslim Ban”. The ban prohibited citizens from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the US and even suspended the refugee resettlement program.
From slums of Lagos, Nigeria, refugee camps of Nairobi, Kenya, and in the villages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where war is yet to end, many young people once regarded the US as a land of hope to escape poverty and war. Many have grown listening to the propaganda of the “free world” and have dreamt setting foot on that land one day, to create a new life with their own hands.
However, when Irina’s tragedy was reported globally, many Africans fell silent: if a white, educated woman from a European war-torn area could not be guaranteed safety, what would those, with darker skin and more precarious identities, encounter there?
These foreign populations engage in high-intensity, low-security jobs in construction, agriculture, and the service industry. They pay taxes but find it difficult to enjoy the same social welfare. They become political bargaining chips in politicians’ campaigns and victims of policy swings. When there is a labour shortage, they are “indispensable contributors”; when there is an economic crisis, they become “burdens to be deported”.
