Big tech plays an active role in Trump’s deportation policy
In de media image: Ev on Unsplash
Boundaries in the collaboration between private and public interests are more blurred in the US than Europe, says Reijer Passchier, Professor of Digitalisation and the Democratic Constitutional State at the Open University and Assistant Professor in Constitutional Law in Leiden, in ‘de Volkskrant’.
According to Passchier, various Tech companies in the US are clearly involved in essential government processes. Like Trump, they despise democracy and Enlightenment ideals, and have a deep admiration for strong leaders.
By offering advanced surveillance and data systems, these tech billionaires are helping to give access to activists’ computers and the number of deportations has been significantly scaled up. Faces that are visible on social media allow tech companies to link a security image to an identity, which is then used to track down immigrants for deportation.
'The Californian ideology – the idea that you can solve everything with technology – is very strong. This rigid belief in technology has many similarities with religion, including the idolisation of leaders,' says Passchier. He has little confidence in democracy in the US, even if Trump is succeeded by a new leader who places greater value on the democratic rule of law.