Washington, DC — Today, America’s Voice convened elected officials and policy experts to wrap a busy year on immigration and discussed the larger impact of this administration’s anti-immigrant agenda on children, the economy, our communities and legal immigration – including the threat to strip citizenship from more Americans.
Janet Cowell, Mayor of Raleigh, NC and a former state treasurer: Mayor Cowell noted that while most of the Border Patrol enforcement actions were in Charlotte, “on November 18th there was a one-day excursion into other parts of the state, and Raleigh was one of the target cities. It ended up being a short time period in the city of Raleigh and some of our neighboring municipalities, but you do see the emotional impact of even that short, truncated effort,” citing effects on school attendance. Addressing the economic impact, Mayor Cowell also noted, “We definitely know that there was a reduction in the labor force at construction sites, landscaping sites, and outdoor activities, as well as at restaurants and shops specifically targeting the Latino population. I think the more sustained impacts are on folks who are now hesitant to work and trying to recover from lost income.”
Donna Norton, Executive VP of MomsRising, said: “America’s moms don’t want children to fear for their safety or that of their friends. An environment of fear only makes it harder for children to learn and thrive. We don’t want to worry about whether our children or their caregivers will be picked up by ICE in their neighborhood, just because of the color of their skin and how they are perceived. We don’t want any communities to live in fear. We don’t want President Trump’s cruel immigration policies to continue driving up prices for all families. We don’t want our government separating families or jailing immigrant children and families. And we don’t want our tax dollars to be diverted from health, education, housing, childcare and other essential programs to pay for civil and human rights abuses against our immigrant family members, friends, and neighbors.”
Dr. Minal Giri, a Chicago pediatrician and co-chair of the Illinois AAP Refugee Immigrant Child Health Initiative, said: “When a parent is seized by ICE, it shatters a child’s sense of safety and security. For a sick child who depends on that parent not just for logistics but for comfort and hope, their entire care plan can collapse. Medications go unfilled, and transportation to the hospital disappears. They lose insurance coverage, and the caregiver, the decision-maker at the bedside, is gone. For children with chronic illnesses, this can mean emergency hospitalizations for children with cancer, and it can mean losing their chance at survival. For medically fragile children, they are at risk of losing life-sustaining care without their trained caregivers at their side.”
Sarah Pierce, Director of Social Policy at Third Way, said: “This administration has been quietly reengineering legal immigration; continuing and expanding upon its efforts from its first term. Perhaps more consequentially, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services—the agency traditionally responsible for administering legal immigration—has been fundamentally reoriented to focus on enforcement. USCIS is referring more applicants than ever before to removal proceedings. It has expanded officer discretion and encouraged heightened scrutiny of applicants’ character, including subjective notions of ‘Americanism.’ Some USCIS officers will be granted firearms and arrest authority. And just yesterday, the news came out that USCIS will be referring naturalized citizens for denaturalization at a pace of 100-200 per month—which is extraordinarily high.”
Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director, America’s Voice, said: “While the volume of immigration news is staggering, make no mistake that there are a few big picture takeaways this year. One: this administration’s anti-immigrant agenda makes America poorer, weaker, and less safe. Two, Americans are recoiling against the overreach, making clear this administration’s immigration agenda is unpopular and ‘has gone too far.’ – as a result, we end 2025 in a very different place than where we started on immigration. And three, the Trump administration will rely on the unprecedented funding for immigration enforcement that Congress appropriated this year to continue their mass deportation crusade in 2026. So, for all those reasons, it is imperative that we not become desensitized to what is happening around us and to continue shining a bright spotlight on the abuse of power. And we also must work to define an alternative vision and better way forward in 2026 and beyond.”
