THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF TRUMPISM
AV started and ended the week talking about the broad implications of Trump’s mass deportation and immigration restriction plan, and especially the impact on economics. Over the weekend, Trump confirmed he planned to use the military to repel the “invasion,” reiterating the dangerous white nationalist conspiracy theory that animates his hatred of immigrants and immigration. As America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas said in a statement on Monday, “Trump and allies are attempting to justify their potential use of the military to conduct indiscriminate mass raids and roundups by wrapping it in the language of ‘invasion’ and the false notion that America is under assault and it must be repelled by force.” The ‘assault,’ if there is one, will be by Trump and his immigration policies on the fabric of American life and especially on the pocketbooks of every American. On Wednesday, AV hosted a (very well attended) webinar moderated by AV consultant (and AILA Senior Advisor) Angela Kelley, with economics professor Robert Lynch, FWD.us senior demographer Phillip Connor and Stuart Anderson, a center-right expert who heads the National Foundation for American Policy. The clear consensus of these experts is that both the mass deportation agenda and the immigration reduction agenda will hurt the American economy, spike inflation, increase deficits and reduce employment and growth. You can (and should) watch the webinar here. AV wrapped up the week by summarizing recent coverage that puts a finer point on the economics of immigration, the industries from brussels sprouts to cancer research that will be impacted and the growing consensus that restricting immigration and deporting immigrants will damage economic opportunity for all. Read more here.
TRUMP’S PLAN TO GUT THE 14TH AMENDMENT AND REDEFINE CITIZENSHIP
This week, the New York Times highlighted more troubling details about the Trump administration’s plans to transform nativist rhetoric into reality, including revelations that the Trump team is looking to gut the 14th amendment, not just through the courts, but by stopping “issuing citizenship-affirming documents, like passports and Social Security cards, to infants born on domestic soil to undocumented migrant parents in a bid to end birthright citizenship.” To some experts on the law, the immediate reaction is hey, he can’t do that. But as AV legal advisor David Leopold writes, this is something Trump and his allies have pursued for years and are now gearing up for a much more serious effort. “It’s critical to remember that the 14th Amendment was enacted to overrule the Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision which held that Black people born in the U.S. were not citizens, but chattel to be bought, sold and abused,” Leopold writes. “What happens if Constitutional Citizenship is held to include only the children of United States citizens and green card holders? The implications here are as far-reaching as they are disturbing but we cannot afford to ignore their considerations. Will physicians be required to report pregnancy and maternity information to ICE? Will ICE post agents in hospitals?” The mere idea is simply incomprehensible, but not out of the range of possibility. We must be honest about the threats, he writes, and do the work to reveal the horrific agenda the Trump administration seeks to foist onto a new, redefined American people. Read more here.
THE MASS DEPORTATION REIGN OF FEAR TAKES SHAPE
In her weekly column, America’s Voice consultant Maribel Hastings writes that Trump plans to use the U.S. military to implement his plan for mass deportations, including setting up installations to house the greatest number of immigrants possible, as well as invoke the Insurrection Act to likely quell protests over his ugly and unpopular agenda. The law has not been used for 150 years and carries grave risks for all Americans regardless of where they were born. “Still, some question whether this nightmare will concretize and if the United States is ready to write another ugly chapter in its history,” Hastings writes. “Only the idea of having military and police forces roaming neighborhoods should alarm anyone.” She notes that Alabama and Arizona have already shown the kind of terror that can result from anti-immigrant policy, including US citizen children who stopped going to school or seeing a doctor when sick because their parents were afraid to leave the house for fear of being swept up and deported, and crops rotting in the fields because essential workers fled. “They say be careful what you wish for, and even those who supported Trump could see themselves affected by the tentacles of his mass deportations reign of fear — and its devastating effect on the economy, civil rights, families, and communities,” she concludes. Her column was also published in several outlets, including La Opinión, El Tiempo Latino, and Hispanic LA. Read her column in English here and Spanish here.
WHAT TRUMP’S MASS WORKPLACE RAIDS MEAN FOR TARGETED COMMUNITIES
The incoming Trump administration and its allies in Congress have promised to make unsparing mass deportations their top priority, including a return to devastating workplace raids. Unfortunately, we don’t have to imagine the downstream consequences. Just look at workplace raids from the last time Trump was in power. This year, in fact, marks five years since the first Trump administration launched the largest workplace raids in more than a decade, targeting seven poultry processing plants in Mississippi and sweeping up nearly 700 immigrant workers, leaving a trail of traumatized children and worse conditions for working families. American kids – U.S. citizens – came home from school to find an empty house. Local stores saw business decline. Meanwhile, exploitative meatpacking plant executives escaped any accountability as hundreds of their workers were ultimately deported and many more left in limbo or stripped of their livelihoods. Sadly, we should expect to see abusive employers get a free pass in the second Trump era. In fact, during his first administration, Trump commuted the only employer of late to be convicted and incarcerated after a mass immigration raid. Trump’s own organization has relied on importing and exploiting immigrant workers for Trump clubs, hotels and properties for years, including his first term. Now aiming to place allies loyal to him and his rich cronies over working families in key federal agencies like the Department of Labor, Trump is poised to take his place as Exploiter-in-Chief to previously unimaginable depths. Read more here.
IMMIGRANTS WILL ALWAYS BE ESSENTIAL
The vast majority of Americans oppose cruel family separation and believe that long-settled immigrants should have the chance to stay. In fact, immigration is critical to our continued success as a nation. Click here to share our graphic and help spread the message that immigrants have always been and will always be essential, no matter who sits in the Oval Office.
LET’S REMEMBER TO THANK THE ESSENTIAL WORKERS WHO FEED US
Last but certainly not least, we want to take a moment ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday next week to honor and give thanks to the unseen guests at our dinner tables – the essential immigrant workers who helped make our meals possible. From side dishes like green beans and roasted potatoes, to main dishes like turkey and glazed ham, to the sweet fillings from our desserts, immigrants regardless of legal status are laboring in fields and factories at this very moment to feed us, our families and loved ones. The majority of these workers keep us fed even as they lack permanent protections allowing them to live and work legally in the country they help nourish. Immigrants are also the backbone of the meatpacking plants that help prepare our turkeys and hams, making up nearly 40% of these workers. This work is not only physically demanding, but also dangerous. Remember that as many other workers were able to shelter in place at the onset of the pandemic, meatpacking workers, as well as farmworkers, had no choice but to continue to remain on the frontlines. These workers deserve full workplace protections and a pathway to legalization, a fact that is never lost on us but certainly is when it comes to the opponents of humane immigration policy. We hope they realize, this Thanksgiving especially, that without the very hard labor of immigrant workers, they and their families might not be having a feast at all.
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