National Partnership for New Americans Condemns Trump’s Border Visit

WASHINGTON – In response to Donald Trump’s trip to the border at Alamo, Texas, Nicole Melaku, executive director of the National Partnership for New Americans, a coalition of 41 immigrant and refugee rights organizations, released the following statement:

“This inappropriate and ill-advised address at the border should remind us about the horrors of a presidency that uses white grievances to gratify the ego of the President while people of color and poor people pay the price. Trump’s record and rhetoric on immigration and racial justice exemplify his worst instincts to indulge his violent base’s most extreme elements. Furthermore, his policies have had a tragic human toll. His push to build a border wall has been paid in the lives of people seeking a better life across the border. His rhetoric has inspired violence – not just at the U.S. Capitol last week – but also white supremacist violence against people of color, such as the El Paso shooting that left 23 dead. Trump’s policies have left vulnerable people and communities of color to fend for themselves as COVID-19 wreaks havoc on our communities, leaving over 375,000 dead in the United States alone. America will remember this affront to our values while we strive to repair President Trump’s damage to our communities. As he doubles down on his nativist, anti-immigrant agenda in the last days of his administration, the harm and trauma unleashed on the nation have harmed our reputation on the international stage and scarred the social and economic fabric of American society.”

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