Will any Republican elected officials take a stand against a cruel strategy that will impact millions of Texas families?
In a late-night tweet on Monday, President Trump stated that U.S. Immigration agents are planning to make millions of arrests starting as early as “next week”. This announcement comes despite his knowledge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s inability to carry out such a plan and is only meant to stoke fear within an already-vulnerable immigrant community.
Texas, which is home to the second-largest population of immigrants in the country, could see entire communities torn apart and thousands of families separated if Trump goes through with his cruel plan. Nearly 10 percent of all Texans live with at least one undocumented family member, that includes more than 1 million children.
Mario Carrillo, State Director of America’s Voice Texas, issued the following statement: “Tearing families apart at our border clearly isn’t evil enough for Donald Trump, so now he is threatening to use his deportation force to go town by town destroying families and communities in an effort to make a shrinking base of hardline immigration opponents happy. Unsurprisingly, Trump is sending a loud and desperate signal that his 2020 reelection, which launches tonight in Florida, will be focused on attacking immigrants again.
“It’s unfortunate that our Republican elected officials, like John Cornyn who will be on the ticket with Trump in 2020, will not stand up to Trump’s terrorizing tactics. Trump’s plan will stoke fear in millions of Texas families with undocumented immigrants, and it will undermine entire cities and communities who long have relied on the work of immigrants, documented or otherwise. Trump is a hypocrite when it comes to immigration and his treatment of immigrants, he himself should understand communities’ reliance on the hard work of undocumented workers given that Trump himself and his businesses have profited from the labor of undocumented workers for decades.
“As last year’s Texas election results signal, our state’s voters are demanding that our leaders not cower to Trump’s cruel demands or be a rubber stamp for Trump’s divisiveness. Instead, we’re looking for leaders who will work towards protecting immigrants in our state, bringing Texans together to solve problems. We want leaders who understand that our growing diversity is our strength and will lead the way forward during Trump’s cruel reign.”
