Donald Trump is once again advocating for the ideological screening of immigrants. He wants to “keep foreign, Christian-hating communists, Marxists and socialists” out of America. Having lived under left-wing regimes in Argentina, I’m a staunch opponent of every form of communism, Marxism and socialism. But the truth is that ideological screening, instead of “mak[ing] America great,” will take America one step closer to totalitarianism.
Thinking through this policy’s logic and implications reveals that giving the government power to screen immigrants’ ideologies means handing government the expansive power to police everyone’s ideas. It would effectively make the government the decider of thought and morality — the arbiter of what ideologies are correct and what values people should hold. It would mean surrendering the root of American freedom: the freedom of thought.
History gives us many examples of the disasters that happen when government exerts control over thought and truth: recall the gulags in Soviet Russia, where intellectual opponents of the regime were sent to “reform” and often die. Or modern-day Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea—all regimes based on ideological control. These regimes are the exact opposite of what America stands for. Granting government the power to screen anyone’s ideology would take America one step closer to these evil regimes.
Americans who understand the value of freedom would never accept the idea that government can dictate to them what books they should read, what political opinions they should hold, or if or what they should worship. Granting government the power to dictate these things to immigrants surrenders the principle that Americans hold so dearly for themselves—and this betrayal imperils their own freedom.