NEW YORK CITY - The Republican party released its first original platform since 2016 after skipping it in 2020. The document highlights the party's top priorities ahead of this year's general election and sets one issue at the top of its agenda— immigration.
The 20-page document released Monday adopts Trump-like rhetoric, emphasizing his "America First" stances and steering away from traditional GOP issues. It begins with two immigration-related points.
"Seal the border, and stop the migrant invasion," reads the platform's No. 1 policy position, which formalizes the concept of a "migrant invasion" as an official policy of the Republican Party.
Using the term "invasion" is relatively new in mainstream politics, and it has consistently caused division even among those favoring strict immigration policies. For immigration advocates, the use of violent terms to describe migration is a new element of an unfolding nightmare scenario, The Hill reports.
"We see a four-alarm fire for our country when the GOP's official platform formalizes xenophobia and recklessly spreads misinformation and fear," said Kica Matos, president of the NILC Immigrant Justice Fund.
The second immigration-related proposal makes a nod to one of Trump's own goals if he were to become president again— mass deportations.
"Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history," reads point No. 2 in the document.
Mass deportations have been a central issue to the Trump campaign throughout this cycle. In an interview back in June, the former president and presumptive GOP nominee said he would resort to local police to carry out these operations, and he tends to give them "immunity" against potential legal challenges that may ensue as a result.
Trump also refers often to President Eisenhower's "Operation Wetback," though not by name, as a model for his own mass deportation ideas. That 1950s operation involved military-style roundups in Latino communities in the Southwest, often deporting U.S. citizens of Mexican descent along with foreign nationals, according to The Hill.
Similarly, the platform's 10th proposal intermingles immigration policy, global drug trafficking and criminal justice. It pledges to "stop the migrant crime epidemic," a position also consistent with Trump's speech.
That proposal comes as a growing body of literature shows migrants commit fewer crimes than native-born residents.
The platform, which experts have noted is filled with Trump-like terms, tackles other issues like inflation and promises related to limiting federal funding for schools teaching so-called Critical Race Theory and keeping "men out of women's sports."
Most notably, the promises don't mention anything about abortion, as Trump attempts to de-emphasize the issue and appeal to swing voters. Following his appointment of Supreme Court judges that helped overturn Roe v. Wade, the former president, has said the issue should be left for the states to decide.
In the entire platform, the word appears just once, in a statement about the party's dedication to protecting "the issue of life." It reads: "We will oppose Late Term Abortion."
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