HARRIS OFFERS STRONG, BALANCED AND POPULAR IMMIGRATION VISION; RINGS ALARM BELLS ON TRUMP’S MASS DEPORTATION
In remarks this week, including to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, Chiquibaby’s podcast and the National Association of Black Journalists, Vice President Harris continued to lean into a balanced, “both/and” immigration message popular among most U.S. voters. This includes support for both an orderly border and support for legal immigration and a path to citizenship for Dreamers and other long-settled immigrants. In reiterating her support for this plan, she was also making the contrasts clear with Trump’s preference for ugly and divisive politics. “Every sentence from Donald Trump seems to contain a noun and a verb and a dehumanizing and dangerous lie about immigrants,” responded America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas. “In contrast, VP Kamala Harris is laying out a broader vision that connects with the majority of Americans who recoil from Trump’s extremist ideas.” Read our statement here. Speaking to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, Harris also did what Trump and his J.D. Vance have refused to do: discuss the horrific details of their plans to set up mass camps and carry out the largest mass deportation our nation has ever seen. “Imagine what that would look like and what that would be,” Harris said. “How’s that going to happen? Massive raids? Massive detention camps? What are they talking about?” As AV has been saying, the immense consequences of the mass deportation agenda for American families, regardless of immigration status, is not yet widely understood, and the more the public finds out about the details, the more they’re repelled. “Instead of allowing Trump and Vance to tout their Stephen Miller-backed plan without context, Democrats and the media must properly explain the true scope of their extreme and harmful agenda,” said Cárdenas. Read more here.
VANCE KNEW THE HAITIAN IMMIGRATION CLAIMS WERE LIES. HE RAN WITH THEM ANYWAY TO GET ATTENTION
In remarkable developments since last weekend, the public found out that J.D. Vance both knew that racist claims now endangering his constituents in Springfield were lies, and that he ran with it anyway to get the media to focus on his anti-immigrant obsession. In a set of interviews with CNN’s Dana Bash, Vance admitted that he “created” stories about his constituents stealing and eating family pets as a way of getting the media to focus on immigrants. “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention…then that’s what I’m going to do, Dana,” he said. Then, The Wall Street Journal broke the news that a Vance staffer found out directly from Springfield’s city manager that there was no basis to the disgusting lies. The campaign ran with it anyway. “The Trump/Vance campaign pushed racist lies they knew were false that put Americans at risk as part of their cynical and dangerous bid for power,” Cárdenas responded. “The lies that make immigrants the villain, are not about addressing the challenges of the issue, but are part of their strategy to stoke political violence and undermine our democracy.” On Thursday, leaders from Haitian Bridge Alliance, Center for American Progress Action Fund, UnidosUS, National Urban League, Asian Law Caucus, Bend The Arc: Jewish Action and AV gathered for a video conference call urging political leaders to stop spreading lies that incite violence. “It is imperative that we come together and push back against false narratives, ensuring safety and protection for those being targeted in Springfield, particularly in the Haitian community,” said Haitian Bridge’s Guerline Jozef. “We have people in power using created misinformation and weaponizing it to inflict pain, to terrorize not just Haitians, but Black America and all marginalized communities.” Watch the full conference call here.
THE RACISM MONSTER AS AN ELECTORAL TACTIC
In her weekly column, America’s Voice consultant Maribel Hastings writes about Trump’s well-known electoral strategy: exploiting racism and prejudice to sufficiently enrage his voting base, hoping that can get him across the finish line on November 5—even while alienating other voting groups. Trump’s racist attacks go back decades, to when he called for the execution of the innocent Central Park Five, and have now been most recently directed at Haitian immigrants in Springfield, she writes. “After all, the intention is to instill rejection not only toward immigrants but specifically toward immigrants of African descent and of color. This, in turn, allows them to attack Harris for being of African descent and of Indian descent. Prejudiced people are not going to distinguish between a Haitian and an African American. For them, it’s only about preventing a person of color from winning the presidency of the United States for the second time in history.” Despite purposefully spreading disgusting lies about Haitian families, “Trump and his minions think that they are the ones being attacked by the ‘extreme left’ and continue feeding the racism monster with dehumanizing rhetoric, with the hope that their backward vision will prevail at the polls,” Hastings concludes. Her column was also published in several outlets, including La Opinión, El Diario NY, and Radio Bilingüe. Read her column in English here and Spanish here.
MORE THAN 17,000 NEW U.S. CITIZENS WELCOMED AS PART OF CONSTITUTION WEEK 2024
Thousands of immigrant permanent residents have been sworn in as new U.S. citizens as part of Constitution Week, which began on September 17. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the agency expects to welcome more than 17,000 new citizens through September 23, and their stories are as diverse as the nation to which they proudly raised their right hand and swore their allegiance. In Washington state, Jose Rodriguez has become a full American on paper after living in the U.S. for more than five decades. He credited the help of Wenatchee-based nonprofit Hand In Hand Immigration Services, which helps eligible community members with the sometimes arduous naturalization process. “I have more rights now,” Rodriguez told Northwest Public Broadcasting. “What matters most to me is to be active in the election, and I will vote for who I want to be president. I will not have someone to choose for me.” In her social media post marking Citizenship Day, which was celebrated on the first day of Constitution Week, Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-WA) said that as “the daughter of an immigrant mother, I understand just how meaningful gaining citizenship is.” Millions of immigrants, with their spirit of entrepreneurship and hopes, carry out essential work that sustains us and keeps our economy going strong – and we are a better and more prosperous nation because of them. America’s Voice congratulates our nation’s newest citizens. Read more here.
HAPPY HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH FROM AV!
September 15 marked the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the achievements and contributions of U.S. Latinos, consultant Clara Trullenque says in a new video from AV. More than 65 million Latinos call the U.S. home, and they make vast contributions in the arts, science, music, sports, and more. Trullenque says these Latino Americans all have something in common: they look toward a brighter future. Click here to share our video celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.
YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS
While Springfield has been thrust into the national spotlight due to ugly lies spread by the GOP presidential ticket, the fact of the matter is that Ohio is a diverse state that’s “home to millions of people who choose love over hate,” Ohio Immigrant Alliance said. The organization has launched #OneLoveOhio, a new campaign that spotlights the positive and uplifting stories happening in Ohio’s communities every single day. This includes people of faith coming together to pray, and hundreds of community members flocking to Haitian-owned restaurants to enjoy good food and support their neighbors and their small businesses. Lynn Tramonte, Ohio Immigrant Alliance Executive Director, said in a statement received by AV that the response to hatred and violence is reaching out and love. “Coming together to find what we all have in common, rather than demonizing our differences,” she said. “In that way, the proponents of a ‘Project 2025’ United States have failed. Their angry actions are uniting us in love.” Show your support for Springfield’s Haitian community and their neighbors by checking out the #OneLoveOhio website here.
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