The backlash to the racist rhetoric Trump used when he called the native countries of TPS holders “shitholes” continues to grow, as activists from across the country call on Congress to enact a permanent solution in the coming days.
Excerpted coverage from Massachusetts to Florida to Nevada follows below:
Miami New Times: Pro-Immigrant Protesters Shut Down Downtown Miami Streets Last Night to Save TPS
They’d also like Trump and his defenders, such as human troll and North Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, to stop making transparently racist comments about black and brown people.
“We are facing a racist, xenophobic, misogynist, homophobic administration, which is criminalizing immigrants and deporting people who have been living here and contributing for 30 or 40 years,” Bastien shouted as the crowd began to form. “What does the Trump administration have to gain by deporting a Mexican living here for 30 years who is a grandfather? What does it have to gain? Tell me?”
“Nothing!” the crowd shouted in response.
“What does the Trump administration have to gain for deporting a Haitian who has been living here for 40 years, guys? Who is gainfully employed, and is a father of four children? What do they have to gain?” she continued.
CBS Miami: Large Protest Takes Place In Downtown Miami Over Immigration
More than a 100 people protested in Downtown Miami, calling for DACA and TPS recipients be allowed to stay in the United States.
Miami residents turned out to let their voices heard.
Haitian immigration activist Marleine Bastien called out the president, saying his decision was not based on facts.
“We fear that the president, based on the comments he made recently, that his decision was based on racism and discrimination and bigotry and not the facts on the ground,” Bastien said.
Vice: How Trump is splitting up Salvadoran-American families, By Keegan Hamilton and Emma Fidel
Marelyn Arevalo is afraid. The 22-year-old paralegal has lived in the Boston area since she was 5, when her parents brought her to the United States from their native El Salvador. But thanks to a recent move by the Trump administration, her family could be torn apart and forced to return to a violent country they barely know.
Like more than 220,000 other Salvadorans, Arevalo and her parents have been allowed to live and work in the U.S. because they qualify for Temporary Protected Status. The U.S. started offering TPS to Salvadorans in 2001 after devastating earthquakes made it too dangerous for them to return home. Congress is currently considering a plan to allow at least some families like the Arevalos to stay in the U.S., but the proposal is reportedly what prompted Trump’s comment about the U.S. accepting too many immigrants from “shithole” countries. Now it’s unclear if Trump would approve any TPS fix.
