The following is a statement from Pili Tobar, Deputy Director of America’s Voice, regarding today’s inhumane Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in Mississippi:
Today, as Donald Trump traveled to do a photo op and give lip service to the communities affected by mass terror in Dayton and El Paso, ICE was busy carrying out some terror of its own. ICE carried out the largest workplace raid in a decade, arresting 680 people, separating them from their families, and spreading fear throughout the immigrant community in Mississippi and the Latino community nationwide.
White nationalism is alive and well in the White House and in this administration. Trump’s racism and xenophobia go beyond his rhetoric and are translated into strategies that are designed to use cruelty to instill fear. Today’s ICE raid is one more in a list of actions to continue demonizing brown people in America who’ve had a target on their back since the day Trump announced his campaign for President.
The question is: will the Republican Party stand up to this President’s out of control and dangerous rhetoric and cruel policies before more people get hurt? Too many people are dying; too many families are being separated; and too many brown and black families and children live scared of what’s to come. These next elections, we must come together to restore dignity to the office of the President and unity to our country. Trump and those who enable him in the GOP are interested in power rather than the safety and well-being of the American people. It’s time for a leadership that values all of us, regardless of color, creed, gender, birthplace, or sexual orientation. Clearly, that will only come if the American people stand up in 2020 and save the American experiment from the clutches of those in charge today.
