New video: Protecting immigrant communities with United We Dream

Donald Trump’s racist and bigoted views on immigrants were the centerpiece of his campaign. Today, he is making good on his promises by trying to build a wall on the southern border, signing executive orders declaring all immigrants a threat to national security, appointing white supremacists to his administration and trying to tear immigrant communities apart.

At CREDO, we are committed to defending undocumented immigrants and all immigrants from Trump’s hate, and we stand firmly with our allies in the immigrant justice community.

That is why this April we were proud to welcome United We Dream Executive Director Cristina Jiménez and Director of Membership and Technology Strategies Adrian Reyna to CREDO headquarters for an update on the organization’s campaigns to fight back against Trump’s attacks on immigrant youth and families.

United We Dream is the largest grassroots and online network of immigrant youth and families in the country with over 50 groups in 25 states and a network of over 300,000 allies. CREDO could not be working with United We Dream at a more important time. Trump wants to spend billions of dollars on his southern border wall and expand his deportation force to target even more immigrants. His hateful regime has also emboldened right-wing Republicans at the state level to push for extreme anti-immigrant policies.

Over the years, CREDO members have voted to give more than $120,000 to support the critical work of United We Dream, and recently, CREDO worked with United We Dream to deliver nearly 300,000 petition signatures demanding that senators block funding for Trump’s southern border wall.

During her visit, Cristina offered some critical advice for allies looking to protect their immigrant neighbors from deportation:

“Get involved in your local campaigns to make sure that your local police and local government are not collaborating with ICE.”

In sanctuary cities and other cities across the country, we should ask: what are the policies for sharing information with the federal government about individual’s immigration status? Are the local police collaborating with or sharing any information with ICE? As allies, Cristina suggests, we should be holding our elected officials accountable and ensure information that could help ICE target immigrant communities isn’t shared with them.

She also recommended ways allies and white immigrants – typically those not targeted by Trump’s hateful regime – can fight back:

“Right now is the time to embrace our different identities and come together in a united front to fight back against all of this. A lot of what allies and white immigrants can do is open up the space to bring people together to be in community. The magic happens when people come together, not when they are all isolated in their own circles.”

You can watch the full video of her comments by clicking here.

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