“We Don’t Want ‘Em” – The Costs and Revealing Sentiment Behind Latest Immigration Announcements

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Washington, DC — This morning’s Politico Playbook’s headline asserted, “Trump changes the subject.” Trump’s tariff war is tanking the economy, his big horrible bill faces strong opposition – including with First Buddy Elon Musk – and Americans continue to reject his out-of-control government overreach and militarization of our communities. As if on cue, President Trump and Stephen Miller launched another attempt to “change the subject” – which always means refocusing on expanded efforts to attack and blame immigrants. In taking stock of just the most recent blizzard of anti-immigrant announcements and developments – including a new Muslim ban, fresh attacks on Dreamers, and continued militarization of communities – America’s Voice is again asking, “at what cost to America?”

According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:

“When the going gets tough, Trump beats up on immigrants. Distraction is the name of the game and immigrant-bashing seems to be his only political card to play.

Case in point: the President of the United States last night released a video accompanying his new travel ban against a dozen countries and said, ‘we don’t want ‘em.’ That same sentiment also courses through last night’s coordinated plan between the Trump administration and Texas government allies to end the Texas in-state tuition policy, which had allowed a generation of Texas Dreamers to study and succeed.

The actions of the Trump-Miller axis are harmful to the nation at a time when Americans want answers and solutions, not scapegoats and retribution. Yet none of that seems to matter to an administration hell bent on scapegoating immigrants to distract from their failures.”

See below for details and reminders on several of the “costs” on display from this week:

Muslim Ban – “We Don’t Want ‘Em” – Costs to Real Lives and Constitutional Pillars

The announced, renewed Muslim ban makes no secret of its underlying motivations – overt discriminatory policy based around race and religion. As Stephanie Gee, Senior Director of U.S. Legal Services at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) said: “Today’s proclamation weaponizes and distorts immigration laws to target people that the president dislikes and disagrees with – and it does so based primarily on racial and religious animus. It is yet another shameful attempt by the Trump administration to sow division, fear, and chaos.” Of note, despite administration messaging justification to the contrary, those now blocked from traveling should the ban go into effect have already undergone extensive legal processes to enter the United States.

Texas In-State Tuition Announcement the Latest Attack on Dreamers’ Opportunities

Last night, the U.S. Department of Justice and allies in Texas coordinated to, essentially, end in-state tuition access for Dreamers – a vital policy that had since 2001 provided opportunities for Texas Dreamers to afford higher education via an in-state tuition rate, knowing that despite Dreamers’ longtime ties to communities, they are ineligible for federal financial aid, grants and loans. As Gaby Pacheco of TheDream.US noted, “harming Texas Dreamers’ abilities to access higher education and put their degrees to work for the state and our nation is self-defeating, harmful both to these students’ futures but also the future of Texas.”

Yet the attacks on Texas in-state tuition are far from isolated. As Nicole Acevedo of NBC News covered in, “College student’s immigration detention highlights Dreamers’ growing deportation risks,”(featuring content from a recent America’s Voice press event), the recently detained student Ximena Arias-Cristobal is “one of nearly 12,000 TheDream.US scholars who have gone on to pursue college degrees, medical school and even work as nurses, engineers and at Fortune 500 companies.” Yet in recent months, “multiple TheDream.US scholars and alumni have either been arrested, detained and even deported,” as an example of the broader targeting of young immigrants. Specifically, Dreamers’ arrests and detentions continue to generate community outcry, including notable recent examples in Milford, MA and The Bronx, where the stories of high school students Marcelo Gomes Da Silva and Dylan have captured public attention and generated widespread condemnation.

Continued Community Pushback Against Indiscriminate Mass Deportations

As The Guardian captures in, “U.S. immigration officers ordered to arrest more people even without warrants,” the renewed push to reach a 3,000 arrests daily quota is leading to indiscriminate arrests and detentions that lack due process, target long-settled community members and, frequently, rely on swarms of militarized ICE agents and law enforcement in militarized tactical gear, weapons brandished and masks on. See more from America’s Voice yesterday, “This is What Mass Deportation Looks Like – Militarizing Mass Deportations and Targeting Kids, Parents and Workers.”