Here & Now

First Look: Immigrant Advocate On Trump Policies

Frederica Freyberg:

In a flurry of executive orders this week, President Trump acted on his campaign promise to take on immigration policy, including his battle cry to build the wall.

Donald Trump:

We have to build the wall. We have to stop drugs from pouring in. We have to stop people from just pouring into our country. We have no idea where they’re from. And I campaigned on the wall and it’s very important. But that wall will cost us nothing.

Frederica Freyberg:

A first look tonight at President Trump’s executive order to build a wall along the border with Mexico and his call beefing up border patrol and immigration officers to deport undocumented immigrants and strip so-called sanctuary cities of federal grant funding. In the midst of this, Milwaukee County is considering reaffirming a resolution there that protects immigrants in a “safe county,” urging the sheriff to not deputize local law enforcement as immigration agents. Reaction and response now from Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de La Frontera, an immigration rights organization in Milwaukee. Thanks for being here.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz:

Thank you for the invitation.

Frederica Freyberg:

What is your reaction to President Trump’s executive order to build the wall and beef up immigration enforcement?

Christine Neumann-Ortiz:

It’s not surprising, but I appreciate the opportunity to be on this show because I think people really need to be informed about the reality of the consequences. As you mentioned, the 25th, the day the executive orders were signed, there was the Milwaukee County resolution, a public hearing that really affirms antidiscrimination policies and affirms the culture and policies that value our diversity that strengthens — calls for strengthening immigrant protections and for other groups as well. And I think it’s very timely because one of the things that was being said is, “Oh, this isn’t going to happen.” And the reality is on that same day those executive orders included some of those pieces that we speak to. One of those pieces, of course, is the fact that he’s threatening, bullying local government by saying, “Oh, we’re going to pull federal funding if you don’t — refuse to be an arm of immigration.” If local law enforcement and local jails don’t function as an arm of immigration. So he’s promoting 287G, which means that local law enforcement would be turned into immigration agents. And he basically stripped all of the enforcement priorities that were won under the previous administration by the immigrant rights movement, which has broad support, which included that only people who have been — where there’s a judge’s federal warrant for probable cause. So you’ve been convicted of a serious crime, would you be transferred over to immigration from a county jail. All of those things have been stripped, and basically if you are undocumented, you are now a target for deportation. So the county ordinance was really affirming that we do not want to enter into any of these kind of agreements and we believe that these kind of enforcement priorities are important because you should not — we should not be breaking up families. We should not be racially profiling people and driving without a license, taking away people’s constitutional rights to a fair trial, should not be a part and parcel of any kind of community.

Frederica Freyberg:

Let me just jump in and read for our viewers what Sheriff David Clarke has to say about this. He says, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office will continue to do everything we can that is codified in both state and federal statutes and in the overarching concept of the rule of law in our nation to assist in addressing the reality that there have been terrible crimes of violence perpetrated in our country by illegal aliens and that the federal government is right and just to seek their deportation. The agents of ICE, just like any of their law enforcement brethren, will continue to enjoy full access to the needed county facilities to perform their lawful duties. So that flies in the face of what you would be seeking in Milwaukee County.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz:

He’s a total hypocrite. Right now, Voces de La Frontera has a lawsuit, because one of the things that the immigrant rights movement won in November of 2014, after hundreds of local and state governments created these enforcement priorities. So only after you’ve been convicted and there’s a judge’s warrant, will a county jail turn you over to immigration, otherwise they’re not interested in this, like broad blanket approach, which has included even U.S. citizens being handed over to immigration. And people who for a minor infraction such as driving without a license, you know, or now it could be a speeding ticket or something that happened ten years ago would be handed over. So what he has — just to clarify what the lawsuit is about, we do not know if Sheriff Clarke is complying with these federal enforcement priorities because he has refused to let the Wisconsin people know if he’s actually complying. There are also four people dead in the county jail and he’s refused to take responsibility.

Frederica Freyberg:

We just have about 30 seconds left, so I wanted to ask you, Speaker Paul Ryan is saying that “dreamers,” the undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children here will not have the rug pulled out from under them. Does that give you some comfort, those words?

Christine Neumann-Ortiz:

Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Because those “dreamers” came here at a young age. They love their parents. They love their uncles and their aunts. They love their brothers and their sisters. And we have a broken immigration system that has trapped millions of families in a mixed immigration status who every day live under threat of deportation. You bet those kids who were crying after the election, elementary school children because they feared their parents, they were going to come home and their parents were going to be gone. You bet this is not a consolation. We need federal immigration reform that is just. And that’s the best thing that Congressman Ryan can do if he is sincere about helping these families who contribute economically and in so many ways to our churches and our schools and deserve equality. And we deserve policies at a local, state and federal level that affirm civil rights and constitutional rights protections. And that’s what we’re being threatened with at the federal level.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz:

I encourage people to pass similar ordinances and to get involved to make sure that we hold the line on what our values are.

Frederica Freyberg:

We need to leave it there. Christine Neumann-Ortiz, thank you very much.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz:

Thank you.