San Antonio, Texas – In response to Governor Abbott and Donald Trump’s visit to the border, Jonathan Ryan, President and CEO of RAICES, released the following statement.
“Governor Greg Abbott’s scheduled photo-op at the border with former President Trump proves that Abbott would rather spend his time demonizing and scapegoating immigrants than address his failure as a leader to protect asylum seekers or the people of Texas to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Targeting the vulnerable is a tried and tested tactic used by people like Trump and Abbott, but Texans see through it and won’t sit idly by when immigrants are under attack.
We must push back against this budding threat and provide strong support to the community of sponsors who are the real target of this current attack by the Governor and the former president.
Much like his failed insurrection attempt last January, President Trump’s immigration policies brought death, devastation, and an insidious threat to our nation’s laws and democratic norms. Governor Abbott will embrace this treacherous legacy this week as he auditions for the role of Trump’s No. 2, even as the likes of Mike Pence and Bill Barr try desperately, in almost pitiable display, to scrub that title from their resumes.
Trump used an angry mob to attack the Capitol and marshalled police forces to assault peaceful protesters supporting Black lives. Following this example, Governor Abbott has assembled his own posse of troopers from different U.S. states to whose leaders seek to align themselves with Trump’s violent movement and form a state-sponsored paramilitary group that promises to terrorize communities across Texas.
On a day when the Texas foster care system forces children to sleep in government offices and our energy grid teeters on the edge of yet another collapse, the person elected to protect Texans will devote his time to parading in front of his new militia and promising billions in state funds for the pleasure of the ex-president and his base.
RAICES was committed to standing up against the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant acts, and we won’t stand idly by as Abbott cynically exploits asylum seekers to win over the former president’s base.”
Contact: Jessica Ortiz
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