Trump’s Divisive Rhetoric Is an Attack on Our Communities and Our Colorado Values
Aurora, CO — Donald Trump’s latest call for mass deportations in Aurora is a direct attack on the values that define Colorado. His racist and fearmongering rhetoric is an attempt to divide our communities and scapegoat immigrants for his own political gain. But what he doesn’t know is that Colorado has a long history of standing up for justice and rejecting attacks against our immigrant community. We won’t let someone with so much hate in their heart drive our families back into the shadows. We stand united in defense of our home, our neighbors, and the dignity of all who call Colorado home.
Trump’s threats of “the largest deportation in the history of our country,” starting in cities like Aurora, Colorado and Springfield, Ohio, have nothing to do with making communities safer. Instead, they harken back to a shameful chapter in Colorado’s history when anti-immigrant laws like the 2006 “show me your papers” legislation led to the separation of thousands of families.
“Trump’s fear mongering is as dangerous as it is dishonest,” shared Gladis Ibarra, Co-Executive Director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. “He doesn’t care about Aurora or Colorado. He’s using us as political pawns to push a racist agenda that paints our entire community in a bad light, and we won’t fall for it. Immigrants are our teachers, our neighbors, our parents, and our children. We will not let them be demonized or ripped from our communities.”
“We lived through this before, and Colorado rejected it,” said Raquel Lane-Arellano, Communications Manager with the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. “In 2006, we became one of the first states to pass a ‘show me your papers’ law, and it tore families apart, criminalized our neighbors, made victims of violence fear calling the police, and separated mothers, fathers, and children from their communities. By 2013, Coloradans came together to overturn this harmful law. We won’t allow hate to take root in our state again.”
Aurora, like the rest of Colorado, has a proud history of standing against these divisive tactics. Time and again, we have rejected policies that pit us against each other, opting instead for unity and the protection of all families, regardless of where they come from. We will not be forced back into a time when people were too afraid to call the police, and immigrant families were driven into the shadows, living in constant fear of deportation. The real threat is the hateful rhetoric that tries to paint immigrants as the problem when, in fact, they are integral to the strength and success of our state.
We reject Trump’s attempts to harm our community and tear apart our families. We will continue to fight for dignity, justice, and the protection of all families in our state.