In response to the introduction of the DREAM Act 2017, and the looming threat to DACA and TPS posed by DHS and the Texas Governor and Attorney General, the following can be attributed to Mijente:
From the second he descended from his tower, we knew that Trump would be a nightmare for immigrants and the people who buy into his false solutions.
Since his inauguration, ICE agents who feel emboldened and unbridled have increased the arrests of our loved ones by 40% more than their already high rates.
The white supremacists in the White House will be happy to read that the terror they unleashed to combat the changing face of this country is having an effect – as short-term as their gains may be.
With our Justice Department handed over to a man who was considered too racist to be a judge, DHS Sec Kelley may move to end TPS and Governors like Abbott in Texas now see an opening to roll back the clock by attempting to take away the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that so many of us fought so hard to win and has benefited nearly 800,000 undocumented young people, not to mention the families they support and the communities they contribute to.
But our community is not unfamiliar to threats. Threats to our lives is what drove many of us to migrate to the US to begin with. Threats to our future is what drove many of us to organize: for the DREAM Act sixteen years ago, for DACA five years ago, for an end to deportations three years ago, and every day of our lives.
Neither the threat nor the possibility of what could happen has ever defined us. The Republicans have defined themselves with hateful rhetoric, racism, and repression – including Lindsay Graham’s opening statements re-introducing the DREAM Act and applauding Trump yesterday. The Democrats insistence on compromising with them instead of presenting a real challenge has defined them and gotten us to where we are today.
Let what defines us be how we respond to this moment.
Let’s seize clean opportunities and quickly condemn anything that turns a Dream into a nightmare, anything that would increase the criminalization of any of us.
While the bill today discusses “Dreamers,” whatever gets negotiated will impact many more in our houses so let us have our entire community at the forefront of this debate.
Let our victory not just be defined by the acts of politicians but in the strength we build from this round of the fight.
Winter is coming, winter may already be here. This is not a time for divided kingdoms.
So let us band together.