Washington DC — In response to Trump’s joint congressional address, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network, issued the following statement:
“Trump’s address was a total display of xenophobia and white nationalism, full stop. The president continued fear mongering and dehumanizing immigrants by repeatedly spouting racist lies and rhetoric. In his remarks, he exploited devastating tragedies to villainize immigrants at large; touted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workplace and neighborhood raids that instill fear, tear apart families, and devastate communities; and denounced sanctuary policies that have helped protect our immigrant neighbors from racial profiling and police abuse, making everyone feel safer.
Bottomline: Trump once again made it clear that he’s driven by racism with the goal of terrorizing and dividing whole communities based on what people look like, where they come from, and the language they speak. The gravity of this moment cannot be understated. Taken together, Trump’s escalation of hate-speech, cruel immigration detention and deportation agenda that includes a national registry, and dismantling of the federal government, puts our democracy in jeopardy and deepens the alarming rise of authoritarianism. We cannot normalize this cruelty - we must call it out and denounce it swiftly.
Trump’s address should spark a rallying cry for everyone to unite for the rights and dignity of all people. Regardless of where someone came from or how they arrived in the United States, their life is of value. Immigrants are vital and valued members of our communities and we demand elected leaders at all levels vehemently and vocally reject the Trump administration’s hateful attacks. Members of Congress must deny Trump the resources he needs to carry out his cruel detention and deportation agenda, including by cutting funds to ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).”
In rebuke of Trump's hateful fear mongering, these facts are indisputable:
Trump scapegoats immigrants.
Trump’s fear mongering against immigrants takes advantage of people’s economic insecurities and anxieties by scapegoating immigrant communities for a plethora of problems where our leaders have failed us – from the housing crisis and opioid crisis, to rising costs at the grocery store. People across the country are struggling right now, and immigrants are not to blame. The blame falls squarely on elected officials and corporations for prioritizing politics and profit over the wellbeing of the American people.
Trump’s detention and deportation agenda will cost taxpayers greatly, while ignoring critical investments to improve the quality of life for everyone.
Trump’s detention and deportation agenda will require billions of taxpayer dollars on top of the already alarming $28.8 billion combined budgets for ICE and CBP. In the Trump-backed house spending bill, there is more than $100 billion in new spending on immigration enforcement and the military, and $2 trillion of spending cuts to vital programs including Medicaid and SNAP. Trump’s investment in the targeting, surveilling, arresting, detaining, and deporting of people comes at the cost of funding to public infrastructure and social programs that serve millions of Americans, and ignores the critical need for investment in housing and healthcare.
Lives are in jeopardy in ICE custody.
ICE detention is plagued by system-wide abuses and a culture of violence that results in egregiously poor conditions and even death. The tragic passing of three people in ICE custody since Trump took office underscores that detention is deadly. The agency’s record of abuse is well-documented by people in detention, immigrant rights advocates and the Department of Homeland Security’s own Office of Inspector General.
Trump’s cruel, multi-layered detention expansion is the backbone to deportation.
The Trump administration is dangerously moving full steam ahead with unprecedented plans to expand the immigration detention system. There are already over 43,000 people locked up in ICE detention — if Trump’s multi-pronged detention expansion plan is realized, it will triple the immigration detention system’s capacity while proliferating ICE operations across agencies, including at military bases and federal prisons.
###
Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States.