Vanessa Cárdenas Reacts to Trump Immigration Ugliness
Vanessa Cárdenas Reacts to Trump Immigration Ugliness
To connect with America’s Voice or specific experts on the immigration policies to be announced today, email press@americasvoice.org; Access online version of this press release HERE
Washington, DC — The following is a statement from Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice, reacting to the Trump inauguration speech and the array of promised immigration and border executive orders to be issued. To connect with Vanessa Cárdenas or some of the nation’s leading experts on the specific policies to be announced today, email press@americasvoice.org.
“Eight years ago, Donald Trump’s inauguration speech of ‘American carnage’ was followed by four years of cruelty and chaos in our immigration system. Now, he’s at it again, hitting his familiar ugly anti-immigrant lies of “invasion” in his inauguration speech and planning to announce an array of Day One executive orders that are more about division and scapegoating than advancing solutions. ‘America First’ really means ‘blame immigrants first,’ even when the related policies harm the nation and do little more than advance fear, paranoia and chaos.
What the Trump administration is readying goes well beyond immigration policy. The push to gut 150 years of settled law and hard-won progress by attacking birthright citizenship, for example, seeks to reshape America’s future by moving this nation backwards. Meanwhile, Trump’s radical plan for mass deportations is not what the American people want, especially when they learn the details and see it unfold. Already, it’s leading to buyer’s remorse: scores of business leaders in key industries are fearful that mass deportation will gut entire sectors of our economy and public schools are taking the dramatic step of preparing their classrooms and parking lots for raids by federal agents.
During Trump’s first term, the American public swung sharply in a pro-immigrant direction, rejecting Trump’s cruelty, chaos, and preference for politics over solutions. Much like we saw during his family separation policy, we expect backlash from Americans upon witnessing the harms of Trump’s second-term immigration agenda, including on the American economy and our core values.
Lost in all the ugly rhetoric is Trump’s hypocrisy: he knows well the value of immigrants; he hired hundreds of them, many undocumented, to build his exclusive golf courses and work at his properties. And during the COVID-19 pandemic — his administration relied on tens of thousands of immigrants ‘essential workers’ to keep food on our table even as it put workers’ lives in danger. America is stronger and better than the bleak and dystopian picture Trump paints for our future. Just as it always has been in this nation, America’s future is strengthened by immigrants.”
Additional Resources
- Read from America’s Voice: “The American Public on Immigration – Lessons from Laken Riley Debate and Coming Ugly Blitz from Trump”
- See this roundup of recent American public opinion that reminds us that Americans want immigration solutions and prefer legalization over Trump style deportations: “Donald Trump Doesn’t Have a Mandate for Mass Deportation, Mass Cruelty and Mass Family Separation.” The document highlights that legalization of undocumented immigrants was more popular than mass deportation in a head-to-head choice by a 56-40% margin in the Election 2024 National Edison exit poll and a 55-44% margin in the massive AP VoteCast election poll – findings that echo those of other recent polls that show the public prefers legalization over Trump-style deportations, especially when the details and scope are detailed.
- See this overview from America’s Voice detailing Americans’ pro-immigrant shift during the first Trump term
- Read the new America’s Voice resource: “Media Guide to Covering Immigration in the Trump Administration”
Follow Vanessa Cárdenas and America’s Voice on BlueSky: vcardenas.bsky.social and americasvoice.bsky.social and Twitter: @VCardenasDC and @AmericasVoice
America’s Voice – Harnessing the power of American voices and American
values to win common sense immigration reform
