LATINA TEEN

MEET THE LATINA TEEN WHO WILL BE TELLING THE IMMIGRANT STORIES
TRUMP IS AFRAID OF HEARING

For every single ignorant act Donald Trump commits, it seems like there are hundreds right behind him looking to right his wrongs — just like Valeria Alvarado.

On Wednesday, his administration put into motion its plan to strike down sanctuary cities by threatening to defund those that won’t detain undocumented immigrants for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). That much we knew, because on the campaign trail, Trump first announced his plans to dismantle sanctuary cities by withholding federal funding. But his executive order goes further than trying to force cities to cooperate with ICE officials, it’s also aiming to prove that offering undocumented immigrants protection results in rising crime. “To better inform the public regarding the public safety threats associated with sanctuary jurisdictions, the Secretary shall utilize the Declined Detainer Outcome Report or its equivalent and, on a weekly basis, make public a comprehensive list of criminal actions committed by aliens and any jurisdiction that ignore or otherwise failed to honor any detainers with respect to such aliens,”

In response to this egregious and revolting report – which will include everyone
from undocumented immigrants to permanent residents – Alvarado is publishing her
own counter-list. She’s in the midst of working on an interactive platform called We,
Too, Are America, which will highlight the undocumented community’s
accomplishments and contributions on a weekly basis. She and her small team will
roll out the first story on February 5, and then each Monday following that.
“I could not believe my eyes when I first read Trump’s plan to publish this list,”
she told me. “This ‘crime list’ idea is not new.

The Nazis used to publish a list of Jewish crimes before the genocide started. The RTML radio in Rwanda used to convince people that Tutsis were to blame for the crimes of the few. I am not trying to homogenize these situations with each other, but it is unbelievable that we are repeating history’s same mistakes.”

“The whole executive order is a ‘them versus us’ narrative,” she said. “He identified
undocumented immigrants as not a part of ‘us’ as a nation, but instead an external
group: ‘them.’ He is convincing people that the US needs a wall and 10,000 more
immigration officers to keep ‘them’ out. Why? Undocumented immigrants pay taxes,
they contribute to our economy, and they work everyday to make this country great.
Undocumented immigrants are not a ‘them;’ they are ‘us.’ When we proudly say as
a country, ‘immigrants are the fabric of this nation,’ this includes the undocumented community.”

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