From his early days as a “birther” testing the presidential waters to his first six months in the Oval Office forging headlong into the Muslim ban, a border wall, and deportations, President Trump has waged an unrelenting assault on the immigrants who strengthen us as a nation. Now Trump is taking another nativist step backward. On August 2, he hosted Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and David Perdue (R-Georgia) at the White House as they introduced the so-called RAISE Act, a bill that would slash legal immigration levels.
People For the American Way called out Trump for once again putting politics ahead of our country's values:
Immigrant families helped build our country and contribute enormously not just to our culture but to our economic vitality. But for years Republicans have made it a priority to vilify immigrants and encourage bigotry and prejudice. Let’s be clear: This legislation has absolutely nothing to do with helping our economy and everything to do with playing up the Trump administration’s nativist agenda and boosting support from his base after failing to deliver his campaign promises on health care. President Trump continues to demonstrate that he is willing to abandon our country’s values in order to push his own extreme agenda and score a few political points.
PFAW was also among the more than 170 organizations, led by the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), who issued a joint statement opposing the RAISE Act as an affront to working families:
The RAISE Act is yet another attack on low-income communities of color, in this case immigrants and their families. The proposal would keep families apart and close the doors of opportunity to people who come to the United States to work their way up and provide a better future for their families. It ignores the contributions of hard-working immigrants, who represent a range of skills and income levels, and threatens the health and wellbeing [sic] of entire families . . .
We urge Members of Congress and our allies to reject this harmful proposal. Instead, we must work together to push for immigration reform that upholds our American values of inclusivity and respect for people from all economic backgrounds.