January 27, 2017 - NHLA Strongly Opposes Trump's Un-American Refugee Ban

NHLA STRONGLY OPPOSES TRUMP’S UN-AMERICAN REFUGEE BAN
Targeting Muslim-majority countries is first step toward discriminatory Muslim ban

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of 40 of the nation’s preeminent Latino advocacy organizations, condemns the executive action today that targets refugees. NHLA believes in a just, humane and inclusive asylum policy, which President Trump’s executive order would dramatically undermine.

Today’s executive order targeting the citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations, fleeing violence and persecution, is the first step toward Mr. Trump’s call for a ban on all Muslims from entering the United States. The executive order would also cut the total number of refugees the U.S. admits from around the world each year. These actions run counter to NHLA’s priorities, included in its quadrennial public policy agenda released last year, which call for asylum policies that respect the dignity of the individual and reflect our nation’s commitment to human rights.

“Another day sadly brings yet another executive order to harm vulnerable people. Today’s action panders to anti-Muslim sentiments while trampling on traditional American support for human rights and showing a callous lack of compassion for people fleeing terror. The Latino community will continue to stand in solidarity with the Muslim community and strongly denounce any actions or rhetoric used to demonize, criminalize, and target a population based on religion or national origin,” stated Hector E. Sanchez, NHLA Chair and Executive Director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.

"Discrimination that is hidden behind moratoriums, suspensions, and studies, and that is couched in exaggeration and outright fallacy as justification, is still discrimination," said Thomas A. Saenz, NHLA Vice Chair, Co-Chair of NHLA's Immigration Committee, and MALDEF President and General Counsel. "This order is wholly inconsistent with our national and constitutional values, and the Latino community will not support this deviation from our national aspiration to remain a global haven for the persecuted and oppressed."

“In a little more than one week, President Trump has launched an all-out assault on immigrants. The executive order barring immigrant refugees from countries with Muslim-majority populations is yet another example of the President’s failure to understand what truly makes America great: our resolve to welcome individuals from all over the world and provide them the freedom and opportunity they long for to uplift their families and contribute to our prosperity. Those are the American values we know and value, and will continue to fight for,” stated Jose Calderon, Co-Chair of NHLA's Immigration Committee and President of the Hispanic Federation.

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The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda is composed of 40 of the leading national and regional Latino civil rights and public policy organizations and other elected officials, and prominent Latinos Americans. NHLA coalition members represent the diversity of the Latino community – Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and other Latino Americans. NHLA’s mission calls for unity among Latinos around the country to provide the Latino community with greater visibility and a clearer, stronger influence in our country’s affairs. NHLA brings together Latino leaders to establish policy priorities that address, and raise public awareness of, the major issues affecting the Latino community and the nation as a whole. For more information, please visit: www.nationalhispanicleadership.org.

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