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It’s No Fun (Being a U.S. Immigrant)

Chronicle Herald: October 20, 2026

I recently heard “Illegal Alien” by Genesis on a popular Nova Scotia radio station. This song is likely played on thousands of stations with no thought to its political significance. The tune features Phil Collins singing about an illegal immigrant’s challenges in the United States circa 1984.

Apparently, Genesis sympathized with the difficulties faced by Mexican immigrants to the U.S. due to the band’s own border hassles. At the time, the song seemed somewhat tacky but relatively harmless since America’s anti-immigrant sentiment was mild compared to today’s blatant hostility.

However, in Trump’s America, Collin’s fake Hispanic accent and lyrical hints about deceptive immigration practices might well reinforce the sort of racial stereotypes popular with MAGA members. While ICE agents demonize and persecute Hispanic, Black and Arab Americans they also harass and sometimes kill immigrants, especially those from Latin America.

In 2026, unlike 1984, masked ICE agents meet inflated arrest quotas to fill profit-driven private prisons where tens of thousands languish in primitive conditions. American citizens, visiting foreign nationals, as well as legal and “illegal” immigrants have all endured ICE brutality, arbitrary detention and deportation to random countries.

Today’s United States offers only grim prospects to legal immigrants, landed immigrants and Trump’s domestic opponents. That’s no fun.