We, the Harvard College Democrats, reject President Trump’s message of fear and hatred. In a direct address to American citizens, the president misled, misrepresented, and outright lied about the state of our immigration system, all to scare Americans into blaming the Democratic party for a government shutdown caused by the president and exacerbated by congressional Republicans.
Not only were President Trump’s attacks on the immigrant community factually untrue (see fact-checking done by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN), they were a blatant indication of the racism and xenophobia that are truly at the heart this administration’s immigration policies . He claims that immigrants are a threat to the American people when, in fact, they are the American people.
No amount of taxpayer money should finance an ineffective security tool and hateful symbol. We oppose the proposed five billion dollar wall and “border security” measures. Furthermore, we believe that DREAMers have a place in this country and should be granted full citizenship through the passage of a clean DREAM Act. We urge Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer to use their new congressional power to deny President Trump any money for his wall and fight for a more inclusive immigration system.
President Trump was right about one thing: we are facing a choice between right and wrong, justice and injustice. But he is on the wrong side. We must pursue policies rooted not in fear of those with different backgrounds, but with hope for the society we can build together. We will keep fighting for the rights of the immigrant community, standing up to bigoted attacks that belittle the American people and American values.