I find it disheartening when I hear talking heads describing Donald Trump as having kept his campaign promises and doing just what he said he would do when running for President in 2024. He indeed campaigned on some of his most outrageous policies, but most people didn’t believe he would actually implement them. Trump spoke out of both sides of his mouth on almost every issue, making half of what he said blatant lies. It was expected that Fox News and other right-wing media would suggest that Trump is the most transparent president ever. The same shouldn’t be true of the so-called mainstream media, which knows better.
Trump said he would release the Epstein Files and has since done all he could to stop their release. He said he wouldn’t enter “stupid foreign wars” and is currently planning land attacks against Venezuela. Trump has also proposed American peacekeepers in the Middle East and discussed an attack on Nigeria. He told you tariffs were not a tax, which is precisely what they are. He said that grocery prices would go down, but the opposite is true. He promised he could end the Ukraine/Russia war on his first day in office. How has that worked out?
The one thing Trump promised that he never reneged on was trying to make America white again, at least in terms of power. He’s been especially effective at making America numerically whiter through our immigration and refugee policies. We knew he planned to make border crossings more difficult, at least on the Southern border. Who knew he would send troops into major cities, raiding daycares and schools? Did anyone imagine federal agents rappelling into a Chicago apartment complex, detaining American citizens, including children, as well as immigrants?
Immigrants following the designated process and keeping their court appearances are being whisked away and disappeared. The Trump administration tells us they are concentrating on the “worst of the worst,” yet they are using racial profiling to detain anyone who matches the description, with the blessing of the Supreme Court.
Trump has used his policies to target Haitians in Ohio and Somalians in Minnesota, moving to terminate Temporary Protected Status, which provided them legal status. Under the last year of the Biden administration, over 125,000 people entered the United States from all over the world as refugees. Trump has said he will limit that number to 7,500, of which 7,000 would be white South Africans, escaping a persecution of white Christians, the South African president says, isn’t happening. The remaining 500 refugees would focus on Christians who already speak English, mainly from Europe. Trump’s given reason for proposing an attack on Nigeria is to protect Christians, but Nigerian Christians aren’t welcome.
On November 26, 2025, two National Guard members were ambushed by a lone gunman while on deployment in downtown D.C. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom (20) — later died from her injuries. The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, entered the U.S. in 2021 under Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome program. Although he arrived in 2021, his asylum application was granted in April 2025 under the Trump administration. While no motive has been ascertained, Trump is using this terrible event to do some of the things he’s wanted to do anyway.
Since the shooting, Donald Trump has announced sweeping new immigration policies, including a permanent pause on migration from “all Third World countries” and a review of green cards for immigrants from designated “countries of concern.” You can bet the countries of concern won’t include countries like Norway, which Trump preferred to “shithole countries” like Haiti, El Salvador, and most African countries.
Trump framed this as necessary to protect national security and prevent incidents like the D.C. shooting. He also said the U.S. will remove anyone who is “not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country.”
Trump has shown a consistent pattern of immigration policies that critics interpret as attempts to “make America white again.” His newly announced plan to permanently halt immigration from all “Third World countries” continues this trajectory, reinforcing earlier efforts to privilege white, European migrants while restricting entry from poorer, non‑white nations.
Trump has promised a “reverse migration plan” to revoke Biden‑era admissions and deport immigrants he deems “non‑compatible with Western Civilization”.
USCIS was ordered to review green cards issued to immigrants from 19 “countries of concern,” potentially stripping them of legal residency. According to reporting from Newsweek, NBC News, and USA Today, the countries include: Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan, Nigeria, Eritrea, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba. While no predominantly white countries are included, no non-white nations made the list. Trump is working very hard to make America white again.
It should be mentioned that various parts of the federal government have removed disproportionate numbers of Black people, especially in leadership positions. The so-called Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, in his purging of all things DEI, has removed a high number of female and Black officers. This pattern extends throughout the federal government. Trump has yet to announce a plan to re-segregate the federal government, as Woodrow Wilson did.
Wilson openly praised the Ku Klux Klan in his writings and allowed the film The Birth of a Nation (1915), which glorified the Klan, to be screened at the White House. Trump has dined with white supremacist Nick Fuentes and has placed Stephen Miller in charge of immigration policy. Trump has long refused to denounce white supremacist groups. Trump has claimed not to know white nationalists David Duke and Richard Spencer. Of course, he also claims not to know a man he pardoned, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who supported a Trump family crypto business at critical financial moments, earning the family over $800 million since Trump took office.
The people of color exempted from Trump’s attempt to make America white are those with H1-B and H-2B Visas. H‑1B visas are for highly skilled, specialized workers (e.g., engineers, IT professionals). H‑2B visas are for temporary, non‑agricultural seasonal jobs (e.g., cooks, servers, housekeepers). The Trump Organization has repeatedly requested H‑2B visas for seasonal staff at Mar‑a‑Lago and other properties. In 2025, the Trump Organization sought 184 foreign seasonal workers across its resorts, including Mar‑a‑Lago.
The terms of the H-1 B and H-2 B visas heavily favor employers. Employees cannot change jobs or quit without facing deportation if the employer turns them in. It sounds very similar to indentured servitude or that other institution that helped make America great.
Trump may have failed to keep his promises on most everything. But if you voted for Trump because you expected him to keep out people of color while admitting almost exclusively white people, you're getting what you voted for.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium. And if you dig his words, buy the man a coffee.