On Trump’s 100th day in office, Michelle Obama says fear for immigrants, people of colour keeps her ‘up all night’

Former First Lady Michelle Obama has said in a podcast that she fears for immigrants and people of colour, saying they are being targeted in the United States following policy changes by Republican President Donald Trump. Speaking on ‘On Purpose with Jay Shetty’ with her brother Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama said, “We knew early on that no one was going to see beyond the colour of our skins. In this current climate, for me, what’s happening to immigrants.”

“It’s not the fear for myself anymore, I drive around in a four-car motorcade with the police escort, I am Michelle Obama. I do still worry about my daughters in the world as they are recognisable,” she said.

“So, my fear is for what I know is happening out there. Now we have a leadership that is sort of discriminably determining who belongs and who does not, that we know those decisions are not being made with due process…and knowing that there’s so much bias and so much racism and ignorance that fuels those kind of choices,” Michelle Obama said.

Describing how Trump’s deportation policies affect her, Michelle Obama said, “I don’t know that we will have the advocates to protect everybody, and that frightens me. I worry for people of colour all over this country. It keeps me up at night.”

After taking over as the US President, Donald Trump launched an aggressive enforcement campaign, surging troops to the southern border and pledging to deport millions of immigrants in the United States illegally. Since then, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants from across the world have been deported.

In March, as many as 7,200 migrants illegally crossing the border were detained.

He also stripped legal immigration status from thousands of people, increasing the pool of those who can potentially be deported. According to the White House data, in the first three months of taking over, the Trump administration has deported 139,000 illegal immigrants.

“The first time, I had two things to do — run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys,” Donald Trump said.

“And the second time, I run the country and the world.”

To keep up his work against illegal immigrants, Donald Trump’s signed three executive orders on Monday, April 28 – the first directed the attorney general to identify cities and states failing to comply with federal immigration laws; the second order is linked to protections for law enforcement officers; and the third is tied to English literacy for commercial truck drivers.