01.26.2018

NEW YORK - In response to a non-starter immigration proposal that slashes legal immigration and adds billions in funding for a new border wall, the Center for Popular Democracy released the following statement from Co-Executive Director Ana Maria Archila:

"President Trump triggered a crisis when he ended the DACA program, a decision the GOP supported that unleashed terror for close to 800,000 young people who call the US home. Now, instead of resolving this crisis, Trump is caving to the pressure of Stephen Miller by derailing bipartisan efforts to pass DREAM Act. 

Instead, Trump and Miller proposed a package that is nothing more than a white nationalist wish list, a package that guts our reputation as a nation of immigrants. But this proposal is dead on arrival, because unlike Trump, the young immigrants who have been leading this fight will not succumb to the pressure and will not accept a path to citizenship for themselves in exchange for the deportation of their parents and a wasteful, racist wall. We will continue to fight for a clean Dream Act, with the support of the more than 80 percent of people in this country who agree with us. 

The fight for DREAMers is not just a fight for our right to stay in the place we call home, it is a fight for the values of this country. The question for all Members of Congress is: are you willing to allow White Nationalists to decide who belongs in our country, or are you going to use your power to advance the values of an inclusive society?

Today we call on the GOP, which controls the White House, the Senate and Congress, to advance real solutions. The choice is stark: you either pass legislation that protects Dreamers, or you’ll be responsible for the deportation of young Americans to countries they barely remember. The only real solution to the crisis that Trump created is a clean Dream Act. Anything else will be seen as exactly what it is: a ploy to satisfy the most radical white nationalist minority in the country."

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Media Contact:

Asya Pikovsky, apikovsky@populardemocracy.org, 207-522-2442