| Dear Katy, It's almost unbelievable. Trump's extremist immigration policies are ripping families apart. Congressional Republicans are refusing to act. And now two senior Democrats are negotiating with one of the most extreme Republicans in the Senate for a compromise on immigration. News broke this week that Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Dick Durbin are working with Sen. Ted Cruz to codify Trump's sham executive order that substituted indefinite family detention for family separation.1 The Republican immigration agenda is a dangerous, racist platform that demonizes and attacks immigrant communities. There is no reason for Democrats to help Republicans make it legislative reality. We have to raise our voices now. Tell Sens. Feinstein, Durbin and all congressional Democrats: No compromises with Republican extremism on immigration. Click here to sign the petition. Cruz is locked in a tight race for his Texas Senate seat. He defended family separation until it seemed politically unwise to do so.2 Then he offered a bill that he claimed would end family separation but would actually grant Trump a wishlist of immigration priorities without doing anything to block the policy that created the family separation crisis – Attorney General Jeff Sessions' "zero tolerance" policy of criminally charging all undocumented immigrants.3 It is appalling that Sens. Feinstein and Durbin want to negotiate with Cruz. Trump and his Republican Party's inhumane policies and racist attacks are an affront to our democracy. They not only worsen the country's crisis of mass incarceration and sanction state violence against people and children of color, but also empower agencies that are terrorizing immigrant communities. If Democrats negotiate and compromise with that bigotry, they legitimize and normalize it. We have to make sure they don't. Tell Sens. Feinstein, Durbin and all congressional Democrats: No compromises with Republican extremism on immigration. Click here to sign the petition. Instead of decriminalizing and reuniting immigrant families, Trump's recent executive order replaced ripping families apart with indefinitely jailing them.4 Now, the administration is using the shift from family separation to family detention as yet another cruel bargaining chip, with officials threatening to separate families again if Congress does not give them millions to expand detention centers.5 Those of us who care about our immigrant family members, neighbors and friends have a responsibility to make sure that Democrats refuse to cave to this vile political hostage-taking. If Sens. Feinstein and Durbin are at the negotiating table with Ted Cruz, we have to make sure they hear us, loud and clear, right now. Can you add your name today? Click the link below to tell Sens. Feinstein, Durbin and all congressional Democrats: No compromises with Republican extremism on immigration: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/No_Dem_Cruz_Compromise?t=8&akid=29084%2E12967895%2EKUjW6x Thanks for everything you do, Heidi Hess, Co-Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Sheryl Gay Stolberg, "Senate Odd Couple Tries to Salvage an Immigration Deal," New York Times, June 26, 2018.
- Noah Lanard, "Cruz's Proposal to End Family Separation Won't Guarantee an End to Family Separation," Mother Jones, June 19, 2018.
- Bea Bischoff, "Ted Cruz's Proposal to Fix Child Separation Is a Cynical Ploy," Slate, June 19, 2018.
- Dara Lind and Dylan Scott, "Flores agreement: Trump's executive order to end family separation might run afoul of a 1997 court ruling," Vox, June 20, 2018.
- John Bowden, "Schiff: Nielsen privately said family separations could resume," The Hill, June 21, 2018.
photo: Win McNamee, Mark Wilson, Alex Wong/Getty Images |
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