Washington, DC — Today, America’s Voice hosted a virtual press event to assess the latest details and larger implications of the Trump administration’s immigration overreach.
Speakers, including law professors, policy experts, and immigration advocates, highlighted the larger constitutional and democratic pillars at stake, including birthright citizenship, due process rights, and habeas corpus protections; how deportations and raids targeting long-settled immigrants are harming local communities and economies; and how the congressional budget and ongoing plans to shift federal investigative money and manpower to more immigration enforcement would turbocharge these harms
Amanda Frost, David Lurton Massee, Jr. Professor of Law and Director, Immigration, Migration and Human Rights Program, University of Virginia School of Law, spoke of the SCOTUS birthright citizenship case and the component involving nationwide injunctions, noting: “There’s an enormous violation of rights and the disruption of society associated with President Trump’s policies, not just birthright citizenship, but also deporting non-citizens without due process, forcing the disclosure of undocumented status through the IRS, firing federal employees, depriving people and institutions of all of those funds. If all of those policies can go into effect against everyone but individuals who filed suit, then President Trump wins by losing.”
George Escobar, Chief of Programs and Services at CASA, reflected on this moment, “I ask myself, ‘How did we get here?’ amidst the barrage of the Trump administration’s constitutional and human rights abuses. Masked armed men refusing to identify themselves may seem like a headline from another time from a far away country, but it’s happening every day in our community. At CASA, we run a national raid hotline where we receive tips from the public about ICE sightings and pickups. Last week we received reports about ICE targeting Washington DC, under the guise of an executive order called ‘Making DC Beautiful,’ made to chill local businesses from hiring immigrants. I admire the strength in the people like Jennifer Vasquez, Kilmar’s brave wife, and half a dozen amazing pregnant women who challenged the administration on birthright citizenship. We have shown that when we fight we win.”
Lia Parada, Chief Advocacy Officer at The Immigration Hub, stated, “The GOP’s budget bill is a roadmap to turbocharge fear, chaos, and mass disappearance. It gives President Trump a blank check to double down on deportations, jail families, and continue targeting legal residents and even U.S. citizens, all while ripping basic services like health care from millions. This is not about public safety—it’s about control, punishment, and erasure. Americans deserve solutions rooted in dignity and common sense, not Trump’s disappearing state. Congress must choose: will they fund cruelty, or invest in the future our communities deserve?”
Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice, stated, “The Trump administration is taking aim at core pillars of our democracy, from birthright citizenship to due process, in their pursuit of mass deportations and unchecked executive power. Their overreach on immigration and deportations is harming our communities, our economy, and our values.”
Access a recording of today’s virtual event HERE
