Policy experts and advocates joined press call to highlight Biden’s assets and Trump’s liabilities on immigration including mass deportation, family separation and dehumanizing rhetoric used to describe immigrants
To access a complete recording of today’s call, click HERE
WASHINGTON — Today, representatives from America’s Voice, the Immigration Hub, Latino Victory Project, FWD.us and the National Immigration Law Center Immigrant Justice Fund held a press call ahead of the first 2024 presidential debate. The advocacy leaders raised major concerns about former President Trump’s dehumanizing anti-immigrant rhetoric, his incitement of violence, his use of disinformation, and his signature plan for mass deportation given his record of family separation.
During the call, participants described what they expect to be a clear contrast between President Biden and former President Donald Trump. President Biden is looking to keep American families together and working towards real solutions to the challenges at hand at the border and elsewhere. Former President Trump has promoted nativist conspiracies that threaten public safety, actively undermined bipartisan efforts for immigration reform, and his signature campaign promise is a devastating mass deportation plan to round up millions, wrecking the economy, driving up inflation, increasing unemployment and separating families of people working and living here for decades, including DREAMers.
“We are on this call to challenge the conventional wisdom on immigration,” said Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice. “Conventional wisdom holds that attacking immigrants and immigration is a winning strategy for Trump and a liability for Biden, but I think the tables are turning. Americans have a more common sense view than what Trump and the GOP are offering. And President Biden is starting to see that he needs to to define his position and defend it and he is also recognizing that the American people want a balance between policies that manage the border effectively and policies that allow immigrants with deep roots in the United States to work and keep their families intact. And just as President Biden has turned a corner, former President Trump has gone around the bend. His daily stream of attacks and disinformation about immigrants is first of all dangerous and dehumanizing, and second, he offers no realistic solutions on how to fix our immigration system.”
“During the presidential debates, I expect Trump to spew his dehumanizing, hateful, and abhorrent rhetoric about immigrants into millions of American households,” said Kica Matos, President, NILC Immigrant Justice Fund. “We know where this dehumanization leads: Trump’s extreme agenda would wreak havoc on communities and make America less safe. All of us must demand that our country’s immigration system reflect the values of fairness, freedom, and compassion. We must soundly reject Trump’s open pursuit of authoritarianism and insist instead on a brighter future for all of us.”
“Ultimately, the Biden-Harris administration has worked hard to rebuild an immigration system decimated by Donald Trump and deliver on their campaign promises to keep American families together,” said Kerri Talbot, Executive Director of The Immigration Hub. “Tomorrow, when President Biden is inevitably met with heinous anti-immigrant attacks, he should stand on his accomplishments, counter Trump’s extremist rhetoric, and lean into the balanced approach that the overwhelming majority of voters want to see.”
“We need a holistic immigration reform that transforms the way people are entering the country in the first place and I am hopeful that President Biden starts to articulate those plans going forward,” said Andrea Flores, Vice President for Immigration Policy & Campaigns, FWD.us. “We need that vision and leadership right now. States in active rural population decline depend on it. We need a President who is able to talk about the industries, the states, the communities who will benefit from new immigration, as well as someone who will continue the long-standing fight for the undocumented community who have waited for solutions for too long.”
“Tomorrow, we will watch a debate featuring one incumbent candidate who has offered real solutions on immigration and other issues, President Biden, and one former president pushing an extremist immigration agenda centered on mass deportation, Donald Trump,” said Sindy Benavides, President and CEO of Latino Victory Project. “President Biden’s actions on immigration show his commitment to providing common sense solutions to fix our immigration system, and taking action on issues that affect our community. They are a stark contradiction to Trump’s family separation and extremist cruel policies.”
See America’s Voice’s debate preparation content here, including:
