DREAMERS AND YOUNG U.S. CITIZENS ENSNARED IN TRUMP’S DETENTION AND DEPORTATION DRAGNET
As graduation ceremonies take place around the country, and families prepare to celebrate the hard work of bright minds, Trump’s immigration dragnet is ensnaring students and young people – U.S. citizens and Dreamers alike. Dreamer Ximena Arias-Cristobal faces deportation even after police said she was wrongfully stopped over an alleged traffic violation. U.S. citizen Leonardo Garcia Venegas was wrestled to the ground at his construction job and accused of having a fake Real I.D. “The Trump administration is instilling fear, trampling dreams, and erasing the future with its deliberate targeting of young people,” America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas said. Read more here.
THE HUMAN AND ECONOMIC COSTS OF TARGETING INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
In our latest installment of “At What Cost,” we highlight the harms to the economy, as well as our global competitiveness, under the administration’s attacks on international students. “The more than 1.1 million international students who studied in the United States last year contributed nearly $44 billion to the U.S. economy during the 2023-2024 school year,” The Washington Post noted. But as Cárdenas said, the cost isn’t just the billions in lost economic growth, but the opportunity cost of lost human potential. “As other countries welcome this talent, America’s loss becomes the world’s gain.” Read more here.
‘ISN’T THERE A BETTER WAY?”
In a new op-ed for the Courier Newsroom that highlights a number of shocking immigration arrests targeting students and other long-settled immigrants, Cárdenas asks: “Isn’t there a better way than what we all are witnessing?” She continues: “Americans want things fixed, not destroyed, including the broken immigration system that has been desperate for an overhaul for decades. And now there’s a growing conversation oriented around the fact that Trump’s overreach and ugliness is moving us in the wrong direction on immigration, away from the real solutions America needs.” Read the full op-ed here.
THE LUCRATIVE BUSINESS OF DETENTION AND DEPORTATION
In her weekly column, America’s Voice consultant Maribel Hastings writes that private prison companies that made generous donations to Trump are now reaping their dividends under lucrative new contracts to detain immigrants for his administration. “‘You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ seems to be the motto, and both companies have seen their profits and stock value rise dramatically.” For Trump, immigrants and even U.S. citizens are a mere transaction, Hastings says. Her column was also published in outlets including La Opinión, El Periódico USA, and La Tribuna Hispana. Read her column in English here and Spanish here.
TRUMP’S NIGHTMARE ASSAULT ON DREAMS
The administration’s attacks on universities and international students have left many enrollees and prospective applicants wondering whether a higher education in the U.S. – formerly a top destination for the best and brightest from around the world – is worth the risk. One international student who was admitted to Harvard Kennedy School’s public policy doctoral program is now looking at other options, NBC News said. It’s also worth remembering that Project 2025 promised a full-out assault on education, including higher education, under a second Trump administration. We’re now seeing that agenda – and more – in action. Read more here.
AMERICANS WANT SOLUTIONSAs Vanessa Cárdenas said in her Courier Newsroom op-ed, Americans want things fixed, not destroyed. That includes updating our nation’s outdated immigration system and bringing permanent relief to millions of immigrant contributors and their families. Click here to watch Vanessa share more from her op-ed on charting a new direction on immigration.
YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS
In a major win for immigrant contributors, a Massachusetts court has ordered the administration “to resume processing of applications for more lasting immigration status or benefits (such as work permits) filed by noncitizens who were granted lawful status in this country through categorical humanitarian parole programs,” Justice Action Center said. The news is a reminder that when we fight together, we win, said Haitian Bridge Alliance’s Guerline Jozef. “Whether we come from Ukraine or Haiti, Afghanistan or Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, all those with humanitarian parole should have the freedom to live and work peacefully in their adopted communities and with their families.” Read more here.
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