CPD Action Network Responds to Trump Speech

01.19.2019

NEW YORK, NY –-  In response to President Donald Trump’s speech this evening attempting to compromise on the government shutdown by offering to keep Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants from some Latin American and African nations in exchange for border wall funding, organizations within the Center for Popular Democracy Action network released the following statements:

Ana María Archila, Co-Executive Director, Center for Popular Democracy Action said:

“President Trump has taken our democracy hostage to try to bully the country into a bad deal. Our message is the same as it has been since the beginning. The current immigration enforcement agencies, ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), are rogue and must be defunded. The wall is a dangerous monument to xenophobia.

“Trump created a crisis by ending DACA and TPS. He unleashed his wrath on immigrant families at the border as a way to score points with his base. Now his #TrumpShutdown has created a crisis for close to 800,000 federal workers who have gone without pay for more than three weeks.

“We call on our Senators to reject any deal that includes additional funding for ICE, CBP, and the wall. Trump must reopen the government now.”

Helen Gym, Philadelphia Councilmember At-large and Vice-Chair of Local Progress

"Trump truly has mastered the art of the bad deal. While 45,000 Philadelphians are out of work because of the government shutdown, the President is yet again putting the future of immigrant communities on the line in service of his racist, anti-immigrant agenda. I hope that Senators will not give in to yet another one of Trump's attempts to divide our communities against each other and will reopen the government with no border wall funding."

Erika Martinez, Dreamer and Make the Road New Jersey youth leader said:

“Trump’s proposal is not a starting point. It is an inhuman, immoral, and nonsensical approach to immigration reform and border security. Trump ended DACA and TPS. He cannot use our lives now as ransom to build his racist border wall. New Jersey Congressional representatives must continue to demand an end to this government shutdown with no compromise and focus their efforts on fixing our broken immigration system. If politicians are willing to compromise with someone whose mission is to in any way threaten immigrant communities, then they are telling us that they are okay with putting our families’ lives at risk.”

Gustavo Torres, Executive Director, CASA

“This president manufactured the crisis he is attempting to resolve with this negotiation.  We need to move beyond these tactics of division to permanent solutions.”

Lupe Magdaleno, Executive Director, Sunflower Community Action

“Trump took away TPS and DACA, two perfectly working programs. Now, he is offering them back for his vanity wall. That is not negotiating. We need: Permanent protection and road to citizenship for families that are assimilated and a contributing part of our community! No tax dollars wasted on a vanity wall, instead of proper funding of safety net programs, education, and Medicare for All!”

The Make the Road organizations in Connecticut, New Jersey, Nevada, New York and Pennsylvania released the following:

“Across the country today, immigrant women and their allies are marching to demand that all our communities be treated with respect and dignity. Meanwhile, Donald Trump appears poised to make yet another push for his absurd and unnecessary border wall.

“Donald Trump is not offering a compromise – he is continuing to hold federal workers and the American people hostage in his ridiculous efforts to fund a border wall.

“Trump is the one who ended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) programs, jeopardizing millions of immigrants and their families. He has no right to use us as a pawn in his political games.

“We call on Congress to reject any border wall deal from Trump, and to reopen the government right away. Congress should pass legislation to protect Dreamers and TPS recipients, but not in exchange for a racist border wall.”

###

Media Contact: Lia Weintraub, lweintraub@populardemocracy.org