The Legalization for All Network (L4A) slams Trump’s “animal” racism

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Legalization for All Network (L4A).

Washington, D.C. – On May 16, during a White House meeting staged to attack California’s immigrant-friendly ‘sanctuary state’ policies in front of the media, President Trump made one of his most hateful and racist comments yet about undocumented immigrants. Given Trump’s record on speaking poorly of Mexicans, the disabled, women and Black people, that’s saying something.

“You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people, these are animals, and we’re taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that’s never happened before,” proclaimed Trump.

These statements and actions are part of an escalation of attacks on immigrants and more incitement of national oppression. As Trump says these statements, he is simultaneously deporting more people, attempting to justify having ended Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for Salvadorans, Hondurans, Haitians and others, as well as ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), threatening to further militarize the border, in addition to congratulating cops for their vile abuse of people. Additionally, Trump has continued and further escalated the longstanding history of workplace audits. The excuse of a workplace audit is to supposedly conduct policy reviews, but in reality ICE is called in to create terror among immigrants. If ICE finds an immigrant to be undocumented, they are immediately detained and processed for deportation.

President Trump, like many racist and rich politicians before him, was using the flimsy pretext of street gangs as an excuse to justify his devastating attacks on entire communities – in this case, targeting Mexican and Central American immigrants and Chicano and Latino communities in the U.S. in general.

The dehumanization of an entire group of people usually goes along with and aims to justify oppressive policies towards that community. This is no exception. While more than 3 million immigrants have been deported since 2009, overwhelmingly to México and Central America, Trump aims to ramp up attacks on immigrants even further. To do that he attempts to convince his supporters that Mexicans and Central Americans are not just violent and threatening, but that they are subhuman.

Although President Trump’s racist and xenophobic attacks on immigrants are so frequent that it’s difficult to even keep track of them all, the brazen racism of his May 17 ‘animals’ comment provoked substantial backlash.

But rather than backtrack from his comment, on May 17 White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Trump’s comments calling immigrants animals. Sanders even took it a step further, saying Trump didn’t “go far enough.” Trump doubled down too, saying, “I refer to them as animals. And guess what? I always will.”

The immigrant rights movement and all progressive-minded people must speak out boldly with one voice to denounce President Trump’s dangerous, racist outburst and stand shoulder to shoulder with our immigrant co-workers, neighbors, families and friends. We must reject Trump’s demonization and repression, and instead stand for solidarity by fighting for legalization and full equality for all, regardless of immigration status.