Trump Will Publish List Of Crimes Committed By Immigrants, In Reflection Of Nazi-Era Policy

The Trump Administration announced on Thursday that the president had signed an executive order calling for the Department of Homeland Security to publish a weekly report of crimes committed by "aliens" in sanctuary cities.

The order announces its justification as "To better inform the public regarding the public safety threats associated with sanctuary jurisdictions..." It does not clarify exactly what immigration status categorizes an "alien" under this order. Cities that do not comply will have all federal funding pulled, except fund used for law enforcment.

Author Andrea Pitzer noticed a similarity between Trump's executive order and a function of the Nazi Institute for Research on the Jewish Question, a political research operation of the Nazi Party opened in 1941. "Worth remembering that Nazi Institute for Research on the Jewish Question kept files on "crimes committed by Jews," she tweeted. This material both reflected and bolstered academic debate — and stoked public fears — about the "criminality" of Jews.

Studying the Jew: Scholarly Antisemitism in Nazi Germany by Alan E Steinweis revealed what was inside the Nazi's files: “In the files about crimes committed by Jews kept by the Institute for Research on the Jewish Question, ‘racial defilement’ constituted the single largest cluster of materials. Also included were files on Jewish responsibility for ‘crimes against morality’ (Sittlichkeitsverbrechen), abortion, and prostitution.”

Violent crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants was a centerpiece of Donald Trump's presidential campaign. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some I assume are good people,” he said of Mexican immigrants when he launched his campaign in June 2015.