Washington, DC – In response to Biden’s invitation to Trump to collaborate on an immigration bill, Setareh Ghandehari, Detention Watch Network’s advocacy director, issued the following statement:
“Yesterday, Biden sent shock waves across the country by legitimizing Trump and the hate that he stands for when he invited him to ‘join me’ to revive the punitive, restrictive, anti-immigrant funding bill that failed last month. This is yet another deeply infuriating example of Biden’s betrayal of the promises he made to establish a more humane immigration system that departs from the cruelty of the previous administration. Biden has capitulated to the Republican’s dangerous, racist narrative on immigration, and as a result has shifted negotiations further to the right than ever before. Make no mistake, Biden has abandoned any shred of moral compass by inviting Trump to join him, and by continuing to advocate for funding that will lead to more immigration detention, more family separation, and more migrant lives in jeopardy.
By making grave concessions that double down on exclusionary and racist immigration policies in the now failed supplemental funding bill, Biden and Senate Democrats moved the starting point for future negotiations, cosigning a brazen right wing agenda on immigration.
Our elected leaders are playing political games with people's lives, and we are fed up with Biden pointing fingers at the other side while rapidly moving to the right, instead of taking real steps to welcome people with dignity and respect. The ‘chaos’ at the US-Mexico border is created and inflamed by open racists like Trump and Texas Governor Abbot to entrench fear and an anti-immigrant approach in our politics. Now Biden and Democrats at large have legitimized this approach, surrendering the narrative to the right when what we need now more than ever is a humane and compassionate leader to counter the Trump and Miller playbook, and a decisive and robust affirmation of the rights of all immigrants.”
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Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States.