Vanessa Cárdenas: “When it comes to immigration, Republicans prefer the fight to the fix”
Washington, DC — There’s a tremendous volume of immigration news this week, but running through the various storylines is a key theme: the Republican preference for driving an anti-immigrant political message and inciting and stoking right-wing anti-immigrant fears instead of governing and advancing real solutions.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“When it comes to immigration, Republicans prefer the fight to the fix. Stoking anti-immigrant fears and dividing Americans is the beating heart of Donald Trump’s reelection strategy, the MAGA movement, and the Republican Party of 2024. Instead of serious efforts to resolve and address 21st-century migration issues and the border, the GOP is compelled to block solutions and perpetuate chaos. Their goal is simply to hammer a relentless political message. The result is both cynical and dangerous. Stoking right-wing and nativist paranoia and mainstreaming white nationalist conspiracy theories about invasions and the need to take up arms will get Americans killed and already has in places like El Paso, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh.”
Among the key examples and storylines proving the point include:
- Donald Trump and MAGA allies scuttling Capitol Hill legislative negotiations for 2024 political reasons: Attention to Trump’s “art of killing the deal” and his preference for immigration and the border as a political issue to run on, rather than an issue to be resolved remains explicit and revealing. This weekend, at a Nevada rally, Trump stated “there is zero chance I will support this horrible open borders betrayal of America,” referring to a border and immigration package tilted heavily towards nativist policy priorities. Meanwhile, the former President is maintaining horrifically dehumanizing rhetoric echoing Nazi and white nationalist propaganda.
- Texas standoff with federal government escalating and inciting dangerous far-right activity this week: A coalition of right-wing leaders and anti-immigrant activists, including some tied to election denial, the January 6th insurrection, and neo-Nazis, are organizing rallies at the border later this week (following ongoing incitements from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Donald Trump and GOP members of Congress). As Wired highlights in, “Far-Right Extremists Are Organizing an Armed Convoy to the Texas Border,” “‘The feds are staging a civil war, and Texas should stand their ground.’ Representative Clay Higgins, a GOP congressman from Louisiana, posted on X after the Supreme Court issued its ruling. The post was shared widely in online communities populated by far-right extremists, including on The Donald, a far-right message board where some of the planning for the January 6 Capitol riot took place.”
- House GOP teeing up dangerous sham impeachment of DHS Secretary Mayorkas, with a complete lack of substance but relying on dangerous white nationalist conspiracy language: The House GOP is proceeding headlong with its sham impeachment of Sec. Mayorkas despite the lack of evidence and legal and constitutional concerns. In the process, many of the leaders behind the impeachment push are mainstreaming white nationalist conspiracies that make us less safe and have been tied to deadly violence.
