THREE DEBATES, THREE QUESTIONS, THREE DODGES ON MASS DEPORTATION
At Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, J.D. Vance followed Donald Trump’s lead and again refused to provide specifics following a direct question about the details and consequences of their signature issue: mass deportation. Like Trump did in both of the presidential debates, Vance refused to provide specifics on whether he would separate American families, even after an attempted follow-up from the moderators. Instead, he deflected. “There’s a reason JD Vance followed Donald Trump’s lead and refused to answer direct debate questions asking for more details about their proposed mass deportation vision: the specifics of their unsparing mass deportations are cruel, costly and chaotic,” responded America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas. AV released a number of key resources ahead of the debate, including important questions to ask and a cheat sheet, and held a press event with experts to discuss the economic, logistical, community and family consequences of mass deportation. Lisa Sherman Luna, Executive Director of Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and TIRRC Votes, said that mass workplace raids that targeted Morristown,TN in 2018 left children “riding the bus home to empty homes … the effects on the community were felt for years.” Read more here.
‘IT’S THE VIOLENCE, STUPID’: TRUMP STOKES VIOLENCE, HARRIS OFFERS BALANCED VISION
During a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump openly continued his pattern of endorsing violence threatening both immigrants and U.S.-born alike, using lurid anti-immigrant lies and calling for “one real rough, nasty” and “violent day” of police retaliation against perceived criminals, saying, “One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately.” It’s important to note it’s not just immigrants who are being targeted by this potential violence. Jamie McGregor, a Springfield businessman and lifelong Republican, has been threatened by white supremacists for simply saying some positive words about his Haitian employees. It’s a stark difference from the clear and balanced agenda by VP Harris, as Vanessa Cárdenas wrote in her new op-ed at Newsweek. “The Harris vision recognizes that legal and orderly immigration and the stories, dreams, and sacrifices of generations of immigrants are among America’s greatest strengths and enduring advantages,” she writes. “Americans want real and common sense solutions on immigration instead of cynical obstruction, ugly lies, and mass deportations of long-settled immigrants. The contrasts, and stakes, are clear and consequential.” Read more here.
THE WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING
In her weekly column, America’s Voice consultant Maribel Hastings says that she’s not fooled by JD Vance’s demeanor during the debate. “Due to the cordial tone of the debate in general, what Vance did was try to reinvent Trump and the Republican team as promoters of bipartisan consensus who have only been ‘misinterpreted’ this entire time, even when Trump instigated the violent assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to impede certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 win,” she writes. “For Vance, what we all witnessed was a ‘peaceful’ demonstration.” After all, it was Vance who perpetrated the lie about his Haitian American constituents – and after he knew it was all untrue – insulted women who do not have children, and is a willing partner in Trump’s mass deportation vision. Vance also refused to say whether his running mate lost the 2020 election (he did). “At least the ‘childless cat (and dog) lady’ writing this didn’t buy the wolf in sheep’s story that Vance tried to project in the debate,” Hastings concludes. Her column was also published in several outlets, including La Opinión, Hoy Dallas, and Radio Bilingüe. Read her column in English here and Spanish here.
NATIVIST LIES FOR AUTHORITARIAN ENDS
Tuesday’s debate saw Vance trying to sell the nation a twisted nativist fantasy where practically every single problem facing working people in America could be blamed on immigrants. True to his ticket, he employed strategic bigotry to masquerade as a serious policy proposal around affordable housing and child care, improved wages, the opioid overdose crisis, and gun deaths, exploiting the legitimate issues facing America and infusing them with strategic racism in a cynical attempt to gain power. Of course, when asked about his ticket’s signature mass deportation agenda tearing American families apart, Vance dodged. His delusional and dystopian vision may have been a more polished veneer compared to a rambling demagogue with a penchant for Nazi-style rhetoric, but his ability to articulate lies in a style slightly less reminiscent of a carnival barker doesn’t make them any more true or any less dangerous than when his boss tells those same lies. Read more here.
GETTING THE FACTS STRAIGHT
While the prevalence of synthetic fentanyl is a serious issue in America, it is simply not an immigration or border issue. Nor should immigrants be correlated with increased crime. In fact, study after study has shown that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than U.S.-born Americans. Click here to share our tweet and help get the facts straight on our communities.
YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS
The Arizona Center for Empowerment, Voces de la Frontera, the Haitian Bridge Alliance, and United We Dream have teamed up to launch more than 35 billboards in Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Wisconsin and Ohio sending the message that immigrants are welcome here. The billboards, which can be seen in both English and Spanish, come as immigrants have been targeted by pernicious and racist lies that are now endangering entire communities. “In recent weeks especially, the outrageous anti-Black lies that have maliciously repeated about Haitian migrants have led to numerous bomb threats and disruption of life for every community in Springfield, Ohio,” United We Dream said. “Immigrant youth refuse to be bystanders when our communities’ lives are at stake,” said Director of Communications Anabel Mendoza. “These billboards are a bold and unapologetic declaration of immigrants’ humanity and a reminder that we have the power to uplift and care for one another, to protect and welcome immigrants, and to reject this hate, regardless of our status.” You can see these great billboards here.
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