Sharp contrasts on display yesterday between Democrats’ sane solutions and Trump White House’s failures, chaos, and cruelty; contrast will only grow sharper as 2020 looms
The contrast between the Trump administration’s ongoing border and immigration failures, chaos, and cruelty and Democrats’ sane solutions were on display yesterday and are set to only grow sharper as the 2020 elections move closer.
According to Pili Tobar, Deputy Director of America’s Voice, “As Democrats step up to offer a real vision that would lead to solutions to Trump’s humanitarian and refugee crisis, the Trump administration’s approach to immigration and the border remains a politically motivated failure. Kushner’s immigration bill is going nowhere and the deterrence-only approach will keep bringing with it chaos, collateral damage, and a deep cruelty at odds with America’s values and interests. The American people want elected officials who can work together to solve problems, Republicans have demonstrated they are incapable and unwilling to deliver real solutions. The contrasts on display so clearly yesterday will only come into sharper view as the 2020 elections move closer and a broad field of Democratic presidential candidates present pragmatic solutions and a roadmap for a 21st century immigration system while Trump and Miller lean into more of the same failed cruelty and chaos.”
Senate Democrats introduce the Central American Reform and Enforcement Act – a plan of action to bring order to the border chaos inflamed by Trump. The Democrats’ new bill recognizes that this crisis – a refugee and humanitarian crisis – needs to be met with pragmatic solutions.
- As Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer noted: “While the Trump administration’s actions exacerbate issues at the southern border, Senate Democrats are committed to addressing the root causes that force families to flee Central America in the first place,” calling the bill, “a common sense proposal based on solutions that have shown success in the past and seeks to stem the flow of asylum claims at our border, crack down on the drug cartels causing the violence that forces people to flee, and provide a safer path to asylum for families in Central America.” (see more bill details and Senator quotes here).
- In a Washington Post column, “More of Trump’s migrant horrors just emerged. Here’s a serious Democratic response,” Greg Sargent calls the bill, “a substantive blueprint to respond to the asylum-seeking crisis — and, more broadly, an answer to Trump’s xenophobic and nativist nationalism, a vision to contrast with his.”
- In a New York magazine piece titled, “Democrats Are Developing a Clear Response to Trump on Migrants,” Ed Kilgore assesses:“[A]s the situation on the border grows more unmistakably serious, even in the opinion of those rank-and-file Democrats, policy-making by sound bite is becoming increasingly less adequate, especially for the 22 Democrats running to displace Trump next year….At this point, all seven Democratic senators who are running for president are onboard with Schumer’s bill. That should clearly make it the starting point for the rest of the field, and a strong start toward a 2020 debate that isn’t just an endless cycle of Trump demagoguing on immigration and Democrats changing the subject.”
Meanwhile, the Trump Administration’s immigration and border-related failures, chaos, and cruelty is inescapable. Just take a look at a few reminders from yesterday.
- Jared Kushner fails to clear the very very low bar we’ve set for him on immigration bill. Shockingly, it looks like Jared Kushner isn’t going to forge a grand bargain on immigration after all. While we’ve been openly dismissive and skeptical of the Kushner-driven immigration effort, the reviews of Kushner’s sales job and performance before a friendly Senate Republicans’ audience yesterday were almost comically brutal. Kushner even had to call in Stephen Miller to answer basic policy details. While the full Kushner bill isn’t out yet, it’s clearly doomed to fail.
- Heartbreaking images of children sleeping on the ground at a Texas border station. CNN reported on the disturbing images of kids at the McAllen border station “sleeping on the ground on rocks and covered by Mylar blankets … A baby bottle filled with milk can be seen in one photo next to a child sleeping outside on dirt, and in another, a woman is seen sitting on rocks leaning against a wall clutching a child.” As the unnamed source of the photos told CNN, “Nobody, no matter who you are, where you are from should spend an hour like this. This is the United States of America. Not in our country.”
- Powerful reminder of why families are fleeing Central America and why deterrence-only hardline approaches are doomed to fail. Read this powerful Time magazine piece: “Violence Against Women in El Salvador Is Driving Them to Suicide — Or to the U.S. Border,” for a reminder why deterrence-only hardline approaches are doomed to fail. Hardline policies and cruelty to send a message won’t stop and deter desperate parents from fleeing the violence and instability in Central America.
