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Dreamers Ask GOP Senators and 2016 Candidates: Do You Want to Deport My Parents?

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New UWD Video a Reminder that Dreamers Prepared to Hold GOP Accountable, Demand Specific Answers on Essential Immigration Questions

A must-watch video from United We Dream (UWD) features Dreamers asking Senate Republicans a simple question – “Do you want to deport my parents?” 

The video features interactions between UWD and a who’s who of Republican opposition to immigration reform and executive action: Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Mike Lee (R-UT0, and Jeff Sessions (R-AL).  Unsurprisingly, none of the Senators on the video were willing to answer UWD’s question or own up to what their voting record makes clear – their desire to subject 11 million immigrants to deportation. 

Dreamers are also demanding specific immigration answers from the first 2016 Republican candidate to officially jump into the race – former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who announced his intention to run for president this week.  In a statement after Bush’s announcement, UWD asked Gov. Bush if he would “commit to keeping families together?” and asking him to specify his stance on a range of immigration positions given that, “In the past, he has called immigration an ‘act of love’, but it’s no secret that he’s recently campaigned for anti-immigrant members of his own party.”

Along with Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) infamous fleeing from the scene of the confrontation between the rabidly anti-immigrant Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and prominent Dreamers Erika Andiola and Cesar Vargas, the Dreamers’ activities this week offer a reminder that Republican attempts to strip, block, or overturn executive action will meet fierce resistance.  Dreamers and other pro-reform advocates will make it impossible for Republican candidates to avoid answering specific and important immigration policy questions.

Two potential 2016 presidential contenders featured in these videos, Senator Cruz and Senator Paul, remain hopeful that they can advance anti-immigrant policies while nonetheless improving the GOP’s standing and appeal to Latino voters.  For example, per a report this week in the conservative outlet National Review, Senator Cruz’s theory of winning the presidency involves rallying the conservative base while making targeted inroads that appeal to “Jews, Hispanics, and Millennials.”  Meanwhile, Senator Paul has given a series of speeches and interviews noting that Republicans need to improve their outreach to Latino voters.

However, the happy talk from GOPers hoping to improve their standing with Latino voters will have difficulty gaining traction if they are regularly challenged by Dreamers on their record and end up defined as anti-immigrant and anti-family unity.  As UWD states in their video, “The GOP attacks aren’t against the President, they’re against our families” – a point we raised yesterday.  And as Andiola and Vargas wrote in an op-ed in Politico, “Rand Paul Can Run, But He Can’t Hide From Latino Voters in 2016.”

Watch the new video from United We Dream (UWD):