Washington, DC–During last night’s State of the Union Address, President Trump said the promise of America’s future depends on our collective ability to cooperate, compromise, and stand united together in love for our country. What he failed to acknowledge was his Administration’s willingness to have American families serve as casualties in the name of a skewed ‘common good’ that appeals only to the worst elements of human nature.
The president’s message of unity and bipartisan compromise are undercut by his Administration’s actions, his continual efforts to deny due process rights to immigrants, and the lack of real solutions for fixing our broken immigration system. From escalating separations of Southeast Asian Americans families, to demonizing asylum-seekers at the Southern border, to terrorizing immigrant children and tearing them away from their parents, to vilifying and scapegoating undocumented workers, to holding hundreds of thousands of workers hostage to fund a racist wall — the president has shown time and time again that his vision for America is not of love but of fear and hate, not of unity but of deep division.
We vehemently denounce President Trump’s ongoing fear-mongering and anti-immigrant propaganda.
Nevertheless, there were some moments to celebrate last night:
We saw the passion and pride of the largest female cohort to serve in Congress; the sea of white clothing they wore stood out as beacons of hope.
We heard birthday cheers for Judah Samet, a Holocaust survivor who escaped the racially motivated mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh last year.
And we listened to the powerful stories of Alice Marie Johnson and Edward Douglas, released from lifetime prison sentences after turning their lives around. We, too, believe in second chances. Immigrants deserve the same right to redemption.
We will continue to uplift the voices of our families, who are the lifeblood of their communities.
We will fight for immigrants and refugees, who aren’t ‘alien’ outsiders but rather are already woven into the rich tapestry of our country’s history and progress.
And we will remain committed working toward a vision of America united in love, compassion, and true freedom for all.
Contact:
Elaine Sanchez Wilson
(202) 601-2970
elaine@searac.org