TRUMP IMMIGRATION PLAN FLASHES RED ALERT FOR LATINO AND PROGRESSIVE ADVOCATES
A New York Times article over the weekend published chilling details of what a second Trump administration could look like on immigration. Straight from Stephen Miller’s cruelest dreams, Trump’s plan would include assaults on legal immigration, massive deportation raids, enlisting the state troopers and national guard of red states, all of which would have a catastrophic impact on the American economy on our society at large. America’s Voice sounded the alarm with our Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas saying in a statement, “Donald Trump’s promised ‘great purge’ of immigrants would only be the beginning of a radical disruption of American life as we know it. A Trump second term would not just be devastating for immigrant communities, but would inflict massive damage on American communities, the economy, and the very idea of our nation as a beacon of freedom and opportunity for people around the world”.
America’s Voice followed this up by organizing two press calls. The first was on Tuesday featuring Latino-led organizations. Not only did the group push back on the Trump threats and cruel and ineffective immigration plan, but also called on Congress to make sure that immigration experts – including the Latino Senators – are included in current congressional negotiations on immigration. The press call included Maria Teresa Kumar President and CEO of Voto Latino, Janet Murguia President and CEO of UnidosUS Action Fund, Hector Sanchez Barba President and CEO of Mi Familia Vota, and Katharine Pichardo-Erskine Executive Director of Latino Victory Project, along with Vanessa Cárdenas. On Friday, Vanessa moderated a press call with progressive leaders inside and outside the immigration space to emphasize that a Trump second term threatens a whole lot more than just immigrant communities. Lorella Praeli Co-President, Community Change Action, Rahna Epting, Executive Director, MoveOn, Maurice Mitchell, National Director, Working Families Party, Omar Jadwat, Director, Immigrants’ Rights Project, ACLU, Tom Jawetz, Senior Fellow, Immigration Policy, Center for American Progress Action Fund and Todd Schulte, President, FWD.us. As Vanessa said on the call: “What Trump is describing is not just about immigration policies, he is not just firing up his voters in a primary season, he is openly talking about changing who we are as a nation, who is considered American, who belongs to this country. We collectively cannot become desensitized to his rhetoric because we already know the dangerous consequences of his words and actions.” Finally, in response to Trump’s rhetoric, President Biden went on the offense to offer a distinction between his administration and a potential second Trump presidency. “The Biden campaign is making it clear that the anti-democratic, anti-immigrant plans of the proposed Trump second term are a menace to all of us,” said Vanessa Cardenas, our executive director in a statement released this week.
WHAT TRUMP’S RETURN WOULD MEAN
In their weekly column, Maribel Hastings and David Torres, of America’s Voice en Español (AVES), write that “if Trump is the GOP nominee and wins the presidency, he has already made it more than clear that he is planning to complete what he could not in his first term… And now it’s not just immigrants who are in danger, but actually the rest of the U.S. population and their rights.” Hastings and Torres add: “Indeed, it turns out that we are facing a situation similar to that of 2016: former President Donald J. Trump is emerging as the favorite to win the Republican nomination for president in 2024 against a Democratic incumbent, Joe Biden, who faces challenges including from many of his own party who are not so enthusiastic about his candidacy; but they do not seem to understand the danger that Trump 2.0 represents not only for the immigrants he has sworn to persecute and deport, but for everyone’s freedoms and for democracy itself. The saying goes well that if you fool me once, shame on you. If you fool me twice, shame on me. By now everyone should know what Trump’s return would mean.” Their column was also published at a number of outlets including La Opinión, Radio Bilingüe and La Tribuna Hispana. Read their column in English here and in Spanish here.
TEXAS ELECTED OFFICIALS AND ADVOCATES PUSH BACK AGAINST STATE’S ANTI-IMMIGRANT BILLS
This week, the Texas legislature passed two harmful immigration bills, SB3 and SB4, that will give Gov. Greg Abbott more than $1.5 billion of additional border security money and deputize and empower every single law enforcement official in the state to enforce federal immigration laws and grant them the power to deport those they deem to be immigrants who crossed between ports of entry. America’s Voice hosted a powerful press call featuring Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX-35), along with State Rep. and Chairwoman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus Victoria Neave Criado (HD107) as well as Roberto Lopez of the Texas Civil Rights Project to push back on these cruel and callous bills. The speakers focused on the unconstitutionality of the SB4, while noting the racial profiling that will undoubtedly occur and will impact people of color all throughout Texas. As Congressman Castro said, “These bills turn every law enforcement officer in the state of Texas into an immigration officer, giving wide latitude to question and challenge the citizenship of just about anyone and interfere with federal immigration enforcement.” These bills will now go to Gov. Abbott’s desk for signature, but the fight will not stop here. Advocates in the state are already preparing to push back against these laws, while ensuring that community members understand their rights.
DHS SEC. MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT ATTEMPT CONTINUES GOPs DESCENT INTO WHITE NATIONALISM
Last Thursday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a privileged resolution to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, relying on language associated with the great replacement conspiracy theory. A Monday night vote stunted the resolution to the Homeland Security Committee with the eight Republicans joining with Democrats after Rep. Tony Gonzales (TX-23), who began saying, “I’m not this crazy extremist Republican,” reportedly whipped “moderate” votes for Rep. Greene’s white nationalist impeachment stunt. The fact that 95 percent of Republicans voted to normalize a racist conspiracy theory that has inspired multiple deadly terrorist attacks is a stunning depiction of the current state of the Republican Party. As Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America’s Voice, said Rep. Greene’s impeachment articles are a dangerous and racist political stunt and should be voted down by all of her colleagues in the House, regardless of their opinions on the policy actions of the Biden administration,” in a statement that was picked up by the AP. Instead, the vote reveals, as Cárdenas noted this week, “They are not engaged in a debate about how to regulate and manage migration, but are instead trying to advance a vision that strikes at the very heart of the promise of America as an inclusive democracy.”
SUBMIT A PUBLIC COMMENT TO PROTECT FARM WORKERS
The Department of Homeland Security is currently taking public comments on regulations that would make vital changes to the men and women who harvest our food by offering stronger protections against exploitation for farm workers that have H-2A and H-2B work visas. Our Digital Team has partnered with United Farm Workers to try to get as many public comments submitted as possible. Click here to submit yours. And help us get more public comments by retweeting the tweet below. The deadline for commenting on these regulations is November 20, 2023.
YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS
HERE TO WORK SUMMIT: Also this week, thousands of people rallied in Washington D.C. for a Here to Work summit in calling on President Biden to grant work permits to long-term immigrants across the country. Organized by the American Business Immigration Coalition, among other partners, people took to the streets to demand expansion of humanitarian parole programs, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) to include people with deep ties to their communities. Read more about the rally here.
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