State department ramps up Trump anti-immigration agenda with new ‘remigration' office
The state department is seeking to create an 'Office of Remigration' as part of a restructuring of the US diplomatic service to facilitate Donald Trump's rightwing anti-immigration policies.
The plan would in effect repurpose the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), which sought to manage and facilitate the flow of people into the US under previous administrations, into a bureau meant to help deport immigrants from the country.
A congressional notification from the state department obtained by the Guardian said the office would be involved in 'repatriation tracking', would 'actively facilitate' the 'voluntary return of migrants' to other countries, and would work with the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement to 'advance the president's immigration agenda'.
'Reflecting core administration priorities, these offices will be substantially reorganized to shift focus towards supporting the administration's efforts to return illegal aliens to their country of origin or legal status,' the document read.
The overhaul is part of a broader restructuring of the state department under its secretary, Marco Rubio, to create a 'more agile department, better equipped to promote America's interests and keep Americans safe across the world'.
Under the plan, which was submitted to Congress this week, the state department would eliminate or consolidate more than 300 offices and bureaus, leading to the firing, or 'reduction in force', of more than 3,400 employees.
The firings would not target members of consular affairs or law enforcement and other key roles of state.
The administration this week ordered US embassies to stop scheduling appointments for student visas in connection with plans to expand social media vetting of applicants. The supreme court on Friday allowed Trump to revoke the legal status of more than 500,000 people from countries including Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela under a programme meant to protect them from economic and political turmoil in their home countries.
The charge against migration has been led by Stephen Miller, the combative aide to the president who has railed against programmes that allow migrants and refugees into the country.
Related: How remigration became a buzzword for global far right
Remigration has become a buzzword for the global far right, with European nationalist movements such as Alternative für Deutschland brushing off allegations of racism to promote flashy ad campaigns depicting mass deportations of migrants. Donald Trump embraced the term in September, saying he would 'immediately end the migrant invasion of America' and, referring to his presidential rival in last year's election, 'return Kamala's illegal migrants to their home countries (also known as remigration)'.
The PRM has been a conservative target under the Trump administration because of its role in resettling immigrants to the US and in distributing grants to groups they say promote migration.
In an article last September for the American Conservative, Phillip Linderman, the chair of the conservative Ben Franklin Fellowship, said it was 'past time for a complete overhaul of State's PRM bureau'.
Members of BFF have occupied prominent roles in the state department under Rubio, pointing to a conservative vision for remaking US diplomacy and its apparatus.
'It is remarkable how many well-informed conservative foreign policy strategists have never even heard of PRM,' wrote Linderman. 'Even those who closely follow immigration and border issues rarely understand the role PRM plays in accommodating and promoting the worldwide movement of illegal migrants.'
Several people at PRM told the Guardian after Trump's election that they expected it could be shut down entirely. Instead, Rubio's plan would reassign diplomats who work in the agency's Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs and Office of International Migration to staff the new Office of Remigration.
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