AMERICA’S VOICE REACTS TO BIDEN-HARRIS ANNOUNCEMENT
On Sunday, July 21, President Biden announced that he was withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for President. In bilingual statements, America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas thanked the president for his years of service, saying that throughout his political career, “he has shown his belief that America is strongest and at its best when our politics and policy are informed by our values, the recognition of our shared humanity, and when we reject divisiveness in favor of what we have in common.” As the daughter of immigrants and a powerful champion of immigrant families throughout her career, Vice President Harris embodies a vision of optimism and a more inclusive America, Cárdenas said. “In the face of a contrasting, dark and dystopian vision of America – where camps and barbed wire would replace the Statue of Liberty – we are confident Vice President Harris will continue to fight for a nation that recognizes immigrants and immigration as strengths and assets and part of our shared national identity and power.” Following the announcement, AV prepared a blog on Harris’ immigration record, as well as a fact sheet. Read more about our reaction to the announcement in English here and Spanish here.
ATTACKS ON HARRIS REINFORCE RIGHT-WING PREFERENCE FOR CHAOS OVER SOLUTIONS
Unsurprisingly, attacks against the candidacy of Vice President Harris by the right have been swift and include the false assertion she was in charge of border policy in recent years. This message is just flat-out wrong. The Biden administration never appointed her a “border czar.” This is a GOP invention, as reporting has noted. Yet, in addition to fact-checking, it’s also important to recognize the broader importance of why her actual role focused on the root causes of migration. Reducing the pressures that force people to migrate from their home countries, particularly in Central America, is an important component in addressing the unprecedented hemispheric migration that needs to be part of a smart reform strategy for 21st-century America. You’d think Republicans obsessed with the border would support this effort. They don’t – and that says everything. “If you prefer to have immigration as a campaign issue and the border in perpetual crisis,” Cárdenas said, “then working together to solve problems and fix our immigration system is the last thing you want and explains why some Members of Congress have blocked any progress on this issue.” Read more here.
TRUMP SAYS ‘WOMAN WITH TWO CHILDREN, THREE CHILDREN’ WILL BE TARGETED BY HIS MASS PURGING
During a joint Fox News interview with JD Vance, Donald Trump again made clear that his proposed “largest deportation operation in the history of our country” would be unsparing and indiscriminate in targeting immigrants. “As soon as we grab, perhaps, we take a woman with two children, three children… she shouldn’t be here but she’s a nice woman, the children are beautiful … you’re right, it’s a hard thing to do, harder than a long time ago with Dwight Eisenhower … nobody complained, in those days, we had a country that was much different,” he chillingly said. This latest admission reinforces earlier points made by both Trump and his surrogates that his mass purging will not only target recent arrivals, but families with deep roots here. “If you thought the gleeful ‘send them back’ chants and ‘mass deportation now’ signs at the RNC were all bluster and not real, believe Donald Trump when he speaks,” Cárdenas said. “Former President Trump is openly admitting that moms with children are among the targets of his proposed mass purge.” Read more here.
IN AN ELECTION OF STARK CONTRASTS, THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS
In her weekly column, America’s Voice consultant Maribel Hastings writes that with his difficult decision to end his reelection bid, President Biden demonstrated patriotism and humility, something few politicians can attest to. It only adds to the contrasts between the two parties, she notes. “The Trump-Vance ticket offers a pessimistic, dark, and isolationist vision with extremist and retrograde proposals over the rights of women, minorities, immigrants, and democracy itself, as Project 2025 from the Heritage Foundation, a road map for the potential second Trump administration, proposes.” Meanwhile, Vice President Harris’ record is one of defending DACA, families cruelly separated by the Trump administration and supporting a pathway to citizenship for the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants. “The voters will decide between these two visions,” Hastings concludes. “The countdown begins.” Her column was also published in several outlets, including La Opinión, Arizona Republic, and Radio Bilingüe. Read her column in English here and in Spanish here.
FLORIDA-BASED REFUGEE TO COMPETE IN 2024 SUMMER OLYMPICS
Fernando Dayán Jorge Enriquez, a Cuban refugee and canoeist who now calls Florida his home, is among 37 athletes who will compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics as part of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team. He’s already an Olympic gold medalist, as part of Cuba’s national team at the Tokyo Games 2020. However, Jorge Enriquez defected from his home country while training in Mexico the following year, eventually arriving in Florida. While he’s now a part of the 2024 IOC Refugee Olympic Team and has been working to build a new life in the U.S., it hasn’t meant his challenges are over. Cuba has challenged his membership on the team and even called for his expulsion from the games. Jorge Enriquez, however, will still compete, and his message remains one of continued perseverance and hope. “To the refugees and athletes who’ve been through the same thing, I want to tell them to not give up,” he said. “No matter how dark the days become, the sun is always going to rise.” Read more here.
KEEPING FAMILIES TOGETHER
The Biden-Harris administration has been making progress on keeping families together, America’s Voice Administrative Assistant Olivia Butts says in a new TikTok. The administration has announced that the application process for eligible undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens to apply for lawful permanent residence without leaving the country will open August 19. “This will be life-changing for so many families,” Butts says, “and an opportunity for people who have lived and worked here for over a decade to finally achieve the American dream.” Click here to watch and learn more about this good news.
YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS
In a major win for all workers and the labor movement, the Department of Homeland Security announced this week that it was doubling the time that immigrant whistleblowers who speak out about abusive workplace conditions can be protected from deportation from two years to four years. Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement, or DALE, “may have taken different forms over the years since the 1990s, but ultimately the objective is the same,” National Immigration Project DALE Staff Attorney Joseph Lin writes in a new blog. “DALE is both an enforcement tool and organizing tool that keeps worker justice, dignity, and fairness as its north star, and holds accountable bad-acting employers. In the process, DALE is a call to advocates to forge and strengthen new bonds across sectors, across geographies, and across affiliations.” Lin also notes that in Spanish, “¡dale!” roughly translates to “let’s go.” He writes the reference “is apt because DALE encourages noncitizen workers to stand up for their workplace rights.” Read more here.
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