NEW YORK, NY – Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization, issued the following statement in response to Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration, including building a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, defunding sanctuary cities, and halting the settlement of refugees.
Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of Color Of Change:
“The executive actions that Donald Trump has and is expected to sign show an absolute contempt for American values of freedom and religious liberty. From defunding “sanctuary cities” to expanding detention centers for undocumented immigrants to ordering a ban on refugees and immigrants from Muslim-majority countries, Trump is moving forward with a plot against America, selling off American values just so he and his friends can make a buck. We still don’t know what taxes, if any, Trump pays, but now we’re being forced to foot a bill for billions of taxpayer dollars to build a U.S.-Mexican border wall. Meanwhile Trump’s cronies in the private prison industry will be lining their pockets as more detention centers are built on the border.”
“As Trump goes back on the promise America has made to its immigrants, Black communities must be especially vigilant in ensuring the safety and security of the millions of Black immigrants in the U.S. In cities like Miami and New York City, close to a third of all Black people are immigrants—including many from Somalia and Sudan, from where Trump plans to ban all immigration. About three-in-ten African immigrants nationally are refugees. All Black Americans—whether born in America or abroad—must work to ensure that members of our communities are welcome to come and stay in this country. America’s very identity depends on it.
“Black communities will also stand by all communities who will be affected by these policies, from immigrants in our own community to Latinos to Asian and Pacific Islander Americans to Arab Americans. We know all too well what a state going after people based on the color of their skin is capable of. We know what it means to be disproportionately harassed by police. We know of the brutal, inhumane conditions in private prisons and detention centers. All Americans of conscience must stand together to oppose these draconian measures, which bear more resemblance to the authoritarian regimes of the last century than the America that we have worked hard to build. We call on all state and local elected leaders to continue protecting immigrant communities and not give in to Trump’s plot against our freedoms and our country.”