LOS ANGELES – The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday to bypass the federal appeals process and rule on its efforts to the end the DACA initiative. Please attribute the following statement on the importance of voting today to push back against the Trump administration’s nativist and anti-immigrant policies to Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund):
“Yesterday’s Trump administration filing, on the eve of a national election, to seek extraordinary action from the United States Supreme Court to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was despicable and unprofessional. Of course, this is an administration that chose to end Deferred Actions for Parents of Americans (DAPA), the never-implemented 2014 Obama executive initiative, on the 35th anniversary of Plyler v. Doe, one of the most important Supreme Court immigrant rights decisions in our nation's history.
“Yesterday’s filing, together with the recent threat to citizenship rights and the ongoing storm of lies to demonize child and family refugees as threatening invaders, amply demonstrates how much in thrall to white nationalism this presidential administration is. Nativists and racists plainly have Donald Trump on a short and tight leash, further exposing how unfit he is to lead.
“Our nation is better than this, and today is our opportunity to demonstrate that. Every eligible Latinx voter must cast a ballot. Regardless of which candidates you support, the act of voting is an important act of invested defiance.
“Do not be intimidated by the putrid orange haze of lies, threats, and bluster. VOTE TO RESIST!”