AMERICAN DREAM AND PROMISE ACT REINTRODUCED IN HOUSE
On Wednesday, Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) led 200 House colleagues in reintroducing the American Dream and Promise Act of 2025, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for young immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, as well as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) holders. The bill, which previously passed when Democrats controlled the chamber in 2019 and 2021, has been cosponsored by 201 members and has been endorsed by nearly 120 organizations, including America’s Voice. “Standing up for the opportunities and futures of Dreamers, TPS holders, farmworkers, and families is essential and a rare point of consensus on immigration among the American majority,” said Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas Wednesday. “The ‘Dream and Promise Act’ is an important step forward that not only would offer stability and a pathway to legal status for many of these deeply rooted immigrants to fully participate in this nation, but also offer critical protections at a moment the Trump Administration is seeking to enact an indiscriminate mass purge of immigrants, including those eligible for the legal pathways created in this legislation.” Read more here.
AMERICA’S VOICE URGES LAWMAKERS TO VOTE ‘NO’ ON GOP BUDGET RESOLUTION
AV urged House lawmakers to protect essential programs for American families and vote “no” on the GOP budget resolution earlier this week, which proposed gutting vital domestic programs in order to fund Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant obsessions. A stunning report from Politico – which said that a “group of prominent military contractors, including former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince, has pitched the Trump White House on a proposal to carry out mass deportations through a network of ‘processing camps’ on military bases, a private fleet of 100 planes, and a ‘small army’ of private citizens empowered to make arrests” – only underscored the importance of opposing the resolution. But despite fierce pushback from advocates, the chamber passed the resolution by the slimmest of majorities. Our fight now moves on to the Senate. “House Republicans are asking Americans to accept a cruel and costly trade-off: gutting essential programs like Medicaid and SNAP that keep families afloat to fund indiscriminate mass deportations, including those potentially facilitated by private military contractors like Blackwater,” Cárdenas said ahead of the House vote. “None of that would actually fix our immigration system or keep us safe.” Read more here.
‘REPORT TO DEPORT’ REGISTRY AND ‘OLIGARCHY VISA’ PLANS OFFER DISTURBING ENCAPSULATION OF TRUMP PRIORITIES
Two new Trump policy plans including a “report to deport” immigration registry and an “oligarchy visa” for wealthy foreigners to buy their way to U.S. citizenship encapsulate the administration’s disturbing worldview on immigration and beyond, underscoring the potential harms for all Americans. Numerous reports highlighted the administration’s plans to establish an immigrant registry for those 14 years old and older and here without legal status, seeking to criminalize what is a civil violation and further laying the groundwork for indiscriminate mass deportations as well as fear that leads to self-deportations of long-settled undocumented workers and family members. “The U.S. has used such registries in the past, including in the 1940s to hunt suspected communists and carry out the mass internment of Japanese Americans during WWII,” as the Independent reported. As he is also targeting long-settled contributors to our nation, Trump also pushed a plan for what amounts to an “oligarchy visa” – a new “gold card” visa that would allow wealthy foreigners to purchase lawful permanent residency for $5 million. Asked by a reporter, Trump said this could even include bad eggs like Russian oligarchs. “America has always been built by hard-working people, not by millionaires who seek to grow their wealth at the expense of working people,” responded Cárdenas. Read more here.
AT CPAC SPEECH, TRUMP RELIES ON DANGEROUS ‘INVASION’ CONSPIRACY THEORY TO JUSTIFY EXTREME IMMIGRATION POLICY
Trump’s speech at CPAC last weekend again relied on the false and dangerous “invasion” conspiracy theory that immigrants and immigration represent an existential danger and threat to the United States and one that must be repelled by force. Of course, this conspiracy theory has been tied to numerous deadly domestic terror events in American communities like El Paso in 2019. Other immigration-related lowlights from the speech included proudly celebrating the revocation of TPS for hundred of thousands of Haitian immigrants here legally, as well as falsely asserting that Springfield, Ohio – where the legal Haitian community became a target of JD Vance and Trump during the presidential campaign – had been “occupied by illegal alien criminals from all over the world.” Meanwhile, CPAC attendees included violent Jan. 6 felons who were released back into our communities and neighborhoods by Trump. “It’s a reminder that this isn’t about public safety and that the true threats to our democracy aren’t the immigrants being targeted by President Trump,” Cárdenas said. Read more here.
CRUELTY, PREJUDICE, AND MONEY MOTIVATE TRUMP’S ANTI-IMMIGRANT POLICY
In her weekly column, America’s Voice consultant Maribel Hastings writes that the Trump administration is acting maliciously, including celebrating the removal of deportation protections for Haitian immigrants here legally. “The level of cruelty and perversion is not normal,” she says. But she notes that some of those still trying to process his actions – a number of which have been ruled illegal and unconstitutional by the courts – include Trump’s own voters. “Maybe they thought Trump would limit himself to detaining and deporting undocumented people of color, and his policies would not touch them.” She points out that it’s a different story for the super-wealthy, noting Trump’s plan to sell off citizenship to the rich as he’s also proposed to fine and jail immigrant workers if they don’t register with the federal government. “But pockets of resistance have already started to surge around the country,” Hastings concludes. “The media is reporting about town halls convened by Republican legislators in Republican states, where constituents are questioning Trump’s plans that directly affect them.” Her column was also published in several outlets, including La Opinión, Radio Bilingüe, and La Tribuna Hispana. Read her column in English here and Spanish here.
GOP LAWMAKERS HAVE BEEN FINDING OUT TRUMP’S EXTREME AGENDA ISN’T PLAYING SO WELL BACK HOME
The House was in recess last week, which meant that Republicans were in their districts to get a glimpse of how their constituents feel about the GOP’s agenda. And, in the real world, it turns out that taking a sledgehammer to the federal government and essential services isn’t playing well. GOP members have been booed and faced blunt questioning from town hall constituents angered over the Trump administration’s actions, including on immigration, as well as lawmakers’ subservience to billionaire Elon Musk. In Wisconsin, the audience erupted when Rep. Glenn Grothman claimed that Trump’s unlawful attempt to end birthright citizenship was a good thing, with constituents shouting “no” and “illegal as hell!” The pushback has been so intense that Republicans may now be stopping in-person events. While the challenges we’re facing as a nation remain steep, the protests aren’t letting up. During his town hall in Austin, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar urged the crowd to not give in to cynicism. “Do some work that inspires you. And when you feel that inspiration, find someone that’s feeling the way you are and pull them out of the rut if you can.” Read more here.
‘REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS ARE A BLESSING’
Earlier this month, faith leaders from multiple faith traditions gathered on a virtual press event to push back against anti-immigrant policies that are putting their communities and congregations at risk. We highlighted some of their uplifting and powerful remarks in a new video to continue shining a light on the need to treat immigrants and refugees with dignity and respect. Click here to watch and share.
WATCH: Faith leaders from multiple faith traditions are pushing back against anti-immigrant policies that put their communities at risk. We must treat immigrants and refugees with dignity and respect. youtu.be/FkS1LHDc8Rg
— America's Voice (@americasvoice.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T21:15:01.784Z
YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS
On Wednesday, a coalition of Latino leaders gathered for a press conference on Capitol Hill to condemn the damaging actions taken by the Trump administration against Latino communities and to call for immediate steps to restore fairness and justice for working families. Speakers included Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat; Janet Murguía, president and CEO of UnidosUS; Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of Hispanic Federation; María Teresa Kumar, president of Voto Latino; Héctor Sánchez Barba, president and CEO of Mi Familia Vota; Juan Proaño, CEO of LULAC; Karina Ayala-Bermejo, president and CEO of Instituto del Progreso Latino; Salvador Ontiveros, president and CEO of the Latino Community Development Agency; Katharine Pichardo-Erskine, president and CEO of Latino Victory; Sindy Benavides, executive director of Aquí; and our own Vanessa Cárdenas. AV’s Olivia Butts captured the event and behind the scenes footage in a must-watch TikTok here. “This administration’s anti-immigrant obsessions come at a high cost to Latino families and all Americans,” Cárdenas said in her remarks. “Their push for indiscriminate mass deportations wouldn’t advance public safety or fix a broken immigration system — instead, it threatens to add needless chaos and cruelty, harm our interests and values, and split apart families and communities.” Read more here.
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