MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – The Senate is debating protections for 1.8 million immigrant young people left vulnerable to deportation by President Trump’s cruel decision to end DACA. Republicans have proposed various bills that aim to use the crisis created by Trump to advance an anti-immigrant, white nationalist agenda that would severely restrict legal immigration, restrict family refunication, and privelege white European immigrants. Voces de la Frontera issued the following statement on the debate so far:

“Trump and Stephen Miller are holding immigrant youth hostage, and they’re hoping to force Democrats to roll the immigration system back to the Jim Crow era in exchange for protections for immigrant youth,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera. “And Democrats must not give in. We urge Senator Baldwin to urge Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Senators to not trade protections for immigrant youth, which are supported by over 80% of voters, in exchange for a bigoted, unpopular wall, or for cruel cuts to legal immigration that would stop families from reuniting. If Democrats cannot get a bill that only protects immigrant youth, and doesn’t harm millions of other people, it is better to have no bill at all, and to pass a clean Dream Act after the 2018 elections.”

“Safety for immigrant young people like me must not come at the expense of millions of immigrant families,” said Alejandra Gonzalez, a college student and DACA recipient from Milwaukee. “A vote for these Trump bills is a vote to separate families. Senator Baldwin and Senator Schumer must stand up for our values and not settle for a white nationalist bill that would separate millions of families.”