Doubling Down on Chaos: Trump & Team Insist on Policies that Make Us Poorer, Weaker and Less Safe

Access online version of this press release HERE

Washington, DC —As last week’s elections demonstrated, Americans voted decisively against the direction of America by the Trump administration. Even some Republican elected officials are sounding the alarm, including about Latino voters trending sharply toward Democrats due in no small part to immigration.

Yet rather than adjusting course, the administration is doubling down on an agenda that’s making us poorer, weaker and less safe due to the callous cruelty and chaos that is coursing through their efforts:

• The Chicago area continues to be the epicenter of the Trump administration’s immigration cruelty and harms – witness fresh reports that masked immigration agents disrupted an area Girl Scout troop food drive; that a 1-year old was among family members harmed when a federal agent lobbed pepper spray into a family’s car at a local Sam’s Club parking lot; and that another elected official – this time a local alderman – reports that federal immigration agents brandished their guns at him.

• In the Boston area, a video shows Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents violently detaining a young mother in Fitchburg as her husband—holding their toddler—appears to have a seizure after agents strike and pin him. Homeland Security officials later accused the man of faking the medical emergency.

• Trump administration planning “mega detention centers” – as NBC News reports, “the Trump administration is exploring a plan to buy warehouses designed for companies like Amazon,” which would “drastically increase the Trump administration’s capacity for detaining immigrants”

• Iowa Public Radio takes stock of growing worries among farmers about their futures, due to fears that this administration’s immigration agenda will destroy their workforce. As the story notes, “The U.S. agricultural industry depends on undocumented immigrants, but President Trump’s immigration crackdown is further depleting an already tight workforce.” The piece quotes Wisconsin dairy farmer John Rosenow, who says, “Without these immigrants, we would struggle … We wouldn’t exist basically, and we wouldn’t want to exist either.”

According to Joanna Kuebler, America’s Voice Chief of Programs:

“President Trump is pardoning actual criminals and conspiracy theorists while devastating families, terrorizing entire cities and destroying key industries. Last week’s elections could not have been more clear: the presidential pardons, lavish parties and economic and anti-immigrant chaos have reached their limit for the American people. Our nation is calling for a better way, on immigration and beyond, yet this administration is intent on ignoring the clear message and will of the American people – and instead double down on the cruelty and chaos that is ripping our country apart.”