SPLC Statement Responding to Trump’s Racial Attack on Members of Congress

ATLANTA – Mary Bauer, deputy legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Immigrant Justice Project, issued the below statement following President Trump’s attack on several members of Congress while immigrant communities across the country remain paralyzed by reports of the planned arrest of thousands:

“There is simply no way around it, President Trump’s comments are racist. They, like the threatened raids of immigrant communities, are sowing division throughout this country and demonizing people of color. It does not matter if they are American citizens like the members of Congress, or undocumented immigrants, the priority of this administration, especially when it comes to immigration policies, has been to demonize, dehumanize, and terrorize. 

“While no one can control racist or vitriolic rhetoric from a social media account, Congress can and must ramp up its oversight of the immigration policies implemented by this administration and these agencies. Congress must also not give this administration one more penny without real safeguards to ensure those funds will not be spent towards implementing these egregious policies which include the mistreatment of migrant men, women and children and the tearing apart of families.”