Advocates Denounce Latest Trump Attack on Immigrants
COLOR calls out another attempt to erase our communities to score political points.
(Denver, CO) – Statement by Dusti Gurule, Executive Director of Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR) on the release of Trump executive order denying fair representation of immigrants in redistricting:
“We are outraged that this administration continues to use attacks on immigrants as an attempt to win their base. This administration cannot continue to dehumanize our communities and use us as a means for political gain. We deserve better.
Today’s executive order would mean that when representation in Congress is being determined, undocumented people would not be counted. As a result, districts with larger immigrant communities would not get the same representation at the decision-making table, and that has huge impacts on our health and our families.
Erasing undocumented people creates an inaccurate picture — it is a systematic transfer of political power to largely white communities. We reject the idea that a district gets more power simply because there are fewer immigrants living there. This is white supremacy in action and will cause very real harm.
The current process for redistricting is already incredibly problematic. It is used to protect incumbents in order to hoard political power and reduce competition rather than advancing strategies to ensure equal voting power and fair representation. This means less representation by and for communities of color — making an already discriminatory process worse.
Undocumented people are part of our state, our communities and our families whether Trump likes it or not. We are part of the fabric of this state and this nation and we always have been.
We won when the administration tried to include a citizenship question on the Census in order to scare undocumented people away from participation and we WILL win on this latest attempt to silence us. We will not be erased.”
Dusti Gurule is available for interview upon request.
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