Hispanic Federation Statement on Trump's First 100 Days in Office
April 28, 2017 (New York, NY) – Today, Hispanic Federation President José Calderón issued the following statement on President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office:
“On Election Night, Donald Trump pledged that he would be ‘President for all Americans.’ The first 100 days of his term, however, tell an alarmingly different story.
“Since his inauguration on January 20, President Trump has issued aggressive executive orders that criminalize immigrant communities, target religious groups, militarize border communities, and dismantle protections for our health, the environment, women, and communities of color. Hispanic Federation has and will continue to fight these attacks on the people and principles we fight for.”
Below are some of the most egregious actions taken by the Trump Administration in the first 100 days in office:
• Criminalizing immigrant communities. "President Trump campaigned on a platform of baseless and incendiary anti-immigrant rhetoric. In the last 100 days, he has laid the groundwork for turning that rhetoric into reality. In February, Trump’s U.S. Department of Homeland Security published a series of executive orders that together form a blueprint for indiscriminate arrests, detentions, and deportations of immigrant men, women, and children. These new enforcement, detention, and criminalization policies have already wreaked havoc and terrorized otherwise law-abiding immigrant communities around the nation. If fully implemented, the new policies will make the Obama Administration’s record-setting deportation proceedings pale in comparison, while recklessly legitimizing selective immigration enforcement based on local capacity and racial and religious profiling. Especially troubling is how these directives will allow immigration officers to keep children from reuniting with their parents, deny due process protections for asylum seekers, and push undocumented immigrants deeper into the shadows, making all community members – immigrant and non-immigrant alike – less safe. The appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, as well as the recent creation of a hotline that opens the door to false accusations of criminality, further demonstrates his remarkable indifference to immigrant rights.”
• Targeting religious groups. "Instead of uniting our communities and nation, the President has used his office to fan the flames of xenophobia, fear and division. His two executive orders to ban individuals from seven majority Muslim countries – and their subsequent halt by U.S. District judges – confirm the worst fears about his understanding of history, the Constitution and the compassion and generosity for others that are at the core of our American values.”
• Militarizing border communities. “Since taking office, President Trump has issued executive actions to authorize taxpayer-funded construction of a costly and unnecessary wall on the border with Mexico, establish punitive measures for cities and states that embrace law-abiding immigrant workers and families, and create a massive deportation force. By putting forward these executive orders, Mr. Trump has chosen, yet again, to pursue rhetoric and policy prescriptions that seek to demonize and punish immigrants, with no proof or evidence to justify the effectiveness or necessity of these actions. While the subject of funding for a border wall has been temporarily sidelined, Hispanic Federation will remain laser-focused on ensuring that this monument to xenophobia is not created, much less paid for with taxpayer dollars.”
• Reducing the safety and well-being of Americans. “In the President’s Budget Blueprint, he laid out his plans to defund major agencies and programs that provide vital services and resources to Hispanic communities. Working with Congress, the President continues to seek the repeal of protections provided in the landmark Affordable Care Act, which helped over 4 million Latinos gain health insurance coverage. Eliminating these protections would cut funding to women’s health, preventative services, and most egregiously, deny health coverage to millions of the elderly and low income individuals and families. From orders that overturn funding to Planned Parenthood, to rollbacks of protections in the workforce against sex-based or gender-based discrimination, President Trump has proven that he is intent on undermining women and LGBTQ rights we have long fought for.”
• Dismantling environmental protections. “The Latino community is deeply concerned about a number of President Trump’s recent environmental actions, in particular his recent executive order directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to roll back crucial clean air and climate protections, including the Clean Power Plan. Given the fact that over half of Latinos live in areas where the air quality frequently does not meet national health minimum standards –and that, according to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, Hispanic children are twice as likely to die from asthma attacks, which are made more severe by poor air quality – President Trump’s actions will have a disproportionately negative effect on Latino communities. Moreover, his executive order directing the Department of the Interior to review monuments and public lands is shameful. These public spaces, in addition to creating healthier communities, have ecological, recreational and spiritual value for Latinos and other Americans and tell the complicated and triumphant story of our nation and all its people.”
“At the same time, the first 100 days have shown that millions of us across the country – regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or political beliefs – are willing to unite to resist the President's divisive rhetoric and harmful policies. As an organization representing more than one hundred Latino community-based organizations across the United States, Hispanic Federation stands ready to defend, protect and promote the interests and aspirations of our community and nation.
“Organizations like ours cannot do this alone. We need Congress, the Courts, the free press and Americans of good conscience to challenge the President’s directives and honor our nation’s proud history of welcoming and safeguarding everyone. This is a critical moment in the history of our country. It’s time to stand up and protect the American values we most cherish: inclusion, fairness, compassion and opportunity.
