Washington, DC —The federal government is officially shut down, but this administration’s effort to scapegoat immigrants and proceed with their mass deportation crusade continues – despite the real facts and the demonstrated harm to the nation. As Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice, noted: “Their priorities are as clear as they are harmful and misguided: blame immigrants and pursue mass deportation above all else.”
In The Bulwark, Jonathan Cohn writes, “The Republican Shutdown Argument is a Giant Lie – No, Democrats aren’t trying to fund health care for ‘illegal aliens.’” Cohn is one of the pre-eminent healthcare policy journalists in the nation and his column is a must-read as the latest “blame immigrants” talking point predominates among the Trump administration and their allies in and outside of Congress. Cohn begins his column with the following important framing before poring over the specific policy details:
“The Republican Party’s closing argument heading into the government shutdown is a big, brazen lie. The lie is so big and so brazen that it’s almost not worth addressing, because doing so gives the claim far more credibility than it deserves.
But it’s become ubiquitous in Republican talking points, from the president on down. There’s also a chance some people will believe it, because it feeds into some common misconceptions about health care and immigration policy, as well as preconceptions of how the parties operate. And in a standoff that has been all about political leverage and public opinion, setting the record straight matters.”
Some leading congressional voices also called out the “big, brazen lie” including:
- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: “This is a lie to distract from the fact that Republicans are making your health care more expensive”
- Rep. Seth Magaziner: “Facts are stubborn: people in the US illegally have never been eligible for Medicare, Medicaid or ACA credits.”
- Rep. Jim McGovern: “Undocumented immigrants CAN’T get Medicare, Medicaid, or healthcare tax credits. It’s against the law. These guys lie because the facts are not on their side.”
- Sen. Chris Murphy: “It’s so pathetically predicable. ‘Democrats did __________ because of illegals.’ They think the American people are dumb. They aren’t.”
Keep in mind, as Politico reports in “Trump shields immigration and trade from shutdown fallout,” and as America’s Voice noted yesterday, the mass deportation crusade and related funding will proceed during the government shutdown. As Vanessa Cárdenas said:
“The Trump Administration and their allies in Congress are going back to their repulsive yet tried-and-true tactic of scapegoating immigrants to distract from the fact that their policies are taking away Americans’ healthcare and damaging our economy. Their mass deportation crusade is endangering the economic security of all Americans – driving up the price of groceries, harming key industries like agriculture and construction, and undermining public safety, including by diverting money and manpower away from real threats and disaster preparedness and toward cruel and unaccountable mass deportations.
Even with a government shutdown and their massive healthcare cuts, the $170 billion mass deportation infrastructure is protected, while essential services that American families and communities rely on will get suspended.”
Key Resources:
- America’s Voice Fact Sheet: “Messaging & Resources on Shutdown, Immigration and Our Economy”
- Debunking Lies About Undocumented Immigrants’ Access to Healthcare:
- Jonathan Cohn in The Bulwark, ““The Republican Shutdown Argument is a Giant Lie – No, Democrats aren’t trying to fund health care for ‘illegal aliens’
- FactCheck.org, “A False Claim About Illegal Immigration and Medicaid”
- New York Times article, “Explaining the G.O.P.’s Misleading Talking Point on the Looming Shutdown”
- How Mass Deportation is Harming Americans’ Economic Security:
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- CNN, “Trump’s tariffs, deportations and climate change are making groceries more expensive”
- Axios, “Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Could Stunt His Blockbuster Economic Aims”
- Politico, “‘The whole thing is screwed up’: Farmers in deep-red Pennsylvania struggle to find workers”
- Watch a recent virtual event convened by America’s Voice on mass deportation’s costs to key American industries and their workforce. Read the post event release here
