Opinion: With Trump re-election, US will see de facto tiers of citizenship based on race

There is a story, much beloved of historians and pundits, of the Chinese leader, Zhou Enlai, being asked what he thought about the impact of the French Revolution. Zhou’s answer, apparently, was that it was too soon to tell.

In the case of Trump’s sweeping victory in the just-concluded 2024 US Presidential Election, that response might make more sense, given that it has been only a few days since the declaration of the results and that it will be two months till he assumes the presidency. Yet, his record as the American president from 2016 to 2020 and his relentless expression of extremist sentiments in the course of his campaign give us some sense of what lies ahead.

The most dire consequence of Trump 2.0, should his plans come to fruition will be the gradual transformation of the US into a racialised carceral state. Trump appears set to embark on implementing his campaign vow of deporting undocumented migrants, including those who arrived in the US as children, as well as those who have permission to stay temporarily in the US on humanitarian grounds.

This project, though, should be understood more broadly as one in which the movements and agency of specific social groups are subject to restrictions...

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