trump is right: we have an immigration crisis

On Friday,  Donald Trump declared a national emergency in order to bypass Congress to fund a wall at the southern border between the United States and Mexico.  

Trump was clear “he didn’t need to” declare an emergency, that the only reason for doing so was to speed up securing funding for the wall (which, you’ll recall, he initially said Mexico would pay for). Trump maintains that America’s immigration crisis is an urgent matter demanding immediate attention.

I didn’t even need to watch today’s presidential address from the Rose Garden to know that Trump is right. When it comes to immigration, America is most certainly facing an urgent crisis. But the crisis isn’t immigrants crossing our border in a charged caravan or terrorist sleeper cells filtering through our borders unchecked. The crisis is Trump and his fear mongering, racist tactics and immigration policies.

Babies are being taken from their parents and locked in cages. Two of them have died. That is an emergency situation of Trump’s creation.

The president  is drumming up racist, xenophobic fear about an imagined threat we face from immigrants. Study after study has shown that American-born citizens are more likely to be criminals than immigrants, but he keeps going on TV and lying about it anyway. That is an emergency situation.

He’s telling bold-faced lies about verifiable data on immigrants to stoke fear in the hearts of Americans who believe him.

He said 4,000 terrorists were aprehended at the border trying to enter the country. The real number isn’t even 400. It isn’t even 40. It’s 6. He just flat-out made it up. That is an emergency situation.

https://twitter.com/votolatino/status/1083031358572843009

A few months ago someone sent bombs to the people Trump called “enemies of the state.” We’ve all but forgotten it happened. Trump didn’t dial back his hateful rhetoric, if anything, he cranked it to 11. That is an emergency situation.

Trump is using our news media to misinform the American public and what’s worse, rather than deny him airtime, they’re letting him do it.  That is an emergency situation.

He’s holding the livelihoods of an entire swath of American workers, many of whom are low-income, hostage to pay for his border wall that experts agree won’t make anyone any safer. He says it isn’t a big deal because “most of them are Democrats.” This is an emergency situation.

Trump is completely right. We’re facing a crisis. The crisis is him, his racist, xenophobic policies, and complete inability to tell the truth to the American people.