LATINO LEADERS STAND UP TO TRUMP’S MASS DEPORTATION PLAN
Leaders from Voto Latino, UnidosUS Action Fund, Mi Familia Vota, Latino Victory Project, and America’s Voice gathered at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Friday to announce plans to combat the threat that twice-impeached former president Donald Trump poses to Latinos and to our entire nation. In a recent Time interview, the GOP nominee outlined a chilling view of his potential second term, including new details on his plans to rely on the military and law enforcement to conduct a mass purge and roundup of immigrants throughout America. In another interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Trump reiterated his lie about the rigged nature of the 2020 election, and again made it clear he’ll use lies about immigrants to sow distrust around the 2024 election. During the Friday event, leaders announced a commitment to cumulatively invest more than $50 million in this year’s election, and underscored what’s at stake this November. Additionally, Voto Latino revealed results of focus groups with disengaged Latino registered voters, which found that there is an opportunity to motivate participants through education about the issues on the ballot. “Time and time again, the Trump campaign has made it clear that its goal is to deport and forcibly remove more than 11 million people from the U.S,” America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas said during the event. “This is not about the border. Trump is going after everyone.” Click here to read more and watch video from the event.
ANTI-IMMIGRANT DIRTY TRICKS AND DISINFO
Remember that phony flier promoted by the Heritage Foundation that sought to stoke fears over the made-up problem of non-citizens voting illegally? The one that was so obviously faked that even Fox News’ main anti-immigrant propagandist quickly dismissed it as suspect? The New York Times dug into details and evidence about the mid-April coordination between right-wing activists and organizations who, during the Secretary Mayorkas impeachment push, joined with Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene to hype up the bogus flier. Dirty tricks, absolutely. But as AV has been warning, this type of anti-immigrant falsehood and conspiracy is dangerous and ties into larger efforts that lay the groundwork for sowing doubt and chaos in our democratic values. “Trump has focused the entire party and its strategy on his white grievance narrative,” Cárdenas said. “And in this case, it is part of a bigger effort to lay the groundwork for delegitimizing the electoral process, facilitate election denial, and undermine trust in our democracy. All of this threatens to spark real world consequences, including justifying more political violence.” Read more here.
MAY DAY 2024: ADVOCATES RALLY TO RECOGNIZE THE ESSENTIAL WORK OF IMMIGRANTS
Monday marked May Day, a day to celebrate the achievements of workers and the labor movement. These workers – millions of whom are immigrants – are critical to our everyday lives and national economy through their work caring for our loved ones, their work building our homes and repairing our roads, their hospitality work central to the tourism industry, their work harvesting the food that feeds us, and much more. Maria Barahona, an SEIU Local 2015 member, is a home care provider for two senior citizens, including a disabled U.S. military veteran. “These individuals have dedicated their lives to their families, their communities, and their country, and it’s my job to make sure they receive the dignified care they deserve,” she said. Despite their essential labor, many of these workers are vulnerable to exploitation and deportation due to their immigration status. In D.C., advocates from all over the country rallied to call on President Biden to grant workers permits via Temporary Protected Status designations. “We are here today because our community needs us,” said CASA Executive Director Gustavo Torres. “We are here today because our country needs us.” Read more on essential workers’ contributions here and the D.C. rally here.
PROTECTING MIGRANTS IN THE FACE OF TRUMP’S THREATS OF A ‘PURGE’
In her weekly column, America’s Voice consultant Maribel Hastings writes that May Day highlights the importance of essential workers, including those without legal immigration status. It’s these same essential workers who will be under threat should Trump win the White House in November. “There have already been ‘purges,’ like the one headed by Republican President Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower and his ‘Operation Wetback’ in the 1950s, which removed more than a million Mexican people from the country, including U.S. citizens,” Hastings writes. “As more recent history has demonstrated as well, state laws that seek to prosecute and remove undocumented immigrants wind up violating the civil rights of citizens and residents in the process.” May Day is a reminder of the vital role that all workers play, Hastings concludes. But it should also be a reminder of the grave threat facing our nation, and the continued need of relief for these workers. Her column was also published in several outlets, including La Opinión, Radio Bilingüe, and La Tribuna Hispana. Read her column in English here and in Spanish here.
TEACHERS, BUSINESS OWNERS, FARMWORKERS, HEALTHCARE WORKERS WOULD BE AMONG MILLIONS OF WORKERS FORCIBLY REMOVED
Let’s be clear: Trump’s promised purge of millions of immigrants would not only devastate families and communities all across the nation, but would inflict unprecedented damage on our nation by forcibly expelling millions of workers who sustain our industries and economy. Trump and white nationalist aide Stephen Miller have promised to round up and deport at least one million farmworkers, 1.6 million workers in the construction industry, 200,000 frontline workers, the 20,000 DACA recipients educating our children, and many others. When it comes to agriculture, some estimates say that in some localities, undocumented laborers make up as much as 75% of this workforce. Those who’ve been listening to Trump’s rhetoric have heard him describe immigrants in dehumanizing terms. But immigrants have been essential to his household and businesses too, working at his resorts, his family winery, and even washing his laundry. If Trump and Miller come for immigrants, every one of us, regardless of where we were born, will pay a very heavy price. Read more here.
ANTI-IMMIGRANT BILLS HURT EVERYONE
As GOP-controlled states rush to enact their own copycat versions of Texas’ harmful “show me your papers” law, AV Director of Communications Ivonne Rodriguez reminds us what this type of legislation really means: economic damage, civil rights violations, and a climate of fear. This will hurt immigrants and U.S.-born residents alike. Click here to watch and share our TikTok to learn more on the real impact of anti-immigrant bills like S.B. 4.
YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS
Texas Reps. Greg Casar and Joaquin Castro lead 30 of their colleagues in penning a letter urging the House Committee on Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee to direct federal agencies to not participate in or support the implementation of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s expensive, ineffective, and cruel Operation Lone Star. “Under the U.S. Constitution, only the federal government can create and enforce immigration laws,” members said. “Operation Lone Star is a harmful policy that makes all of us less safe under the guise of ‘securing’ the border.” Abbott has spent billions in taxpayer dollars to in part target and arrest migrants, most of them people of color, seeking new lives in the U.S. Some have been arrested under dubious circumstances while others have been illegally jailed for weeks at a time. This program is abhorrent – and federal agencies should not be participants in it. “Congressmen Casar and Castro and their colleagues are spot on with this letter,” said Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center Executive Director Marisa Limón Garza. “We’ve already seen how damaging Operation Lone Star is for borderland communities like mine.” Read more here.
