Washington, DC — A new op-ed from Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice, on the Univision website, underscores the dangers of Donald Trump’s recent rhetoric towards immigrants. Titled, “How Trump’s relentless anti-immigrant focus is tied to his threats to democracy,” excerpts are copied below, and the full piece is found in English HERE and Spanish HERE:
“Donald Trump’s relentless attacks on immigrants and related lies and conspiracies are best thought of as not really about immigration. Trump and his allies are weaponizing the issue to stoke divides and energize the MAGA base, but also to lay the groundwork to undermine trust in our democracy and our electoral process.
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As we saw on January 6, the threat of violence is not a theoretical worry. Further, we at America’s Voice have been sounding the alarm on the increasingly violent language we are hearing from Trump and the right-wing when it comes to immigrants – blaming them for invading our country, drug trafficking, sensationalizing a handful of crimes committed by immigrants, and now even blaming immigrants for rigging the election. Before Trump descended the Trump Tower escalator in 2015 to give his speech calling Mexicans “murderers and rapists,” it would have been unthinkable for any serious American politician to utter these prejudiced and racist accusations. Fast forward nine years, and Trump is running on a dark and dystopian view of immigrants and America – such as his new “border bloodbath” phrase – and most of his party is following suit. The normalization and acceptance of these ideas are beyond troubling.”
