San Francisco, California: Protesters march from Dolores Park in the Mission District to City Hall to protest the Trump administration’s family separation and detention process. – June 30, 2018 (Shutterstock)
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, FWD.us released the final report in a four-part installment, Deeper Into Darkness or a Chance for True Progress: The Stakes on Immigration, a prospective look at what the next four years could look like under either a second Trump term or a Biden presidency.
Authored by FWD.us President Todd Schulte, the report outlines the stark contrast the election presents to the American people for two dramatically different potential paths ahead on immigration policy depending on the results of the presidential election. The report makes clear how a second Trump term would allow President Trump to escalate his attacks on immigrants dramatically, and further weaponize the U.S. immigration system at the expense of all Americans, inflicting likely irreparable harm to our nation’s economy and damaging our ability to rebuild from the devastating coronavirus pandemic. The report also outlines why a Biden presidency could chart a new path on immigration with a true chance for progress, starting with the chance to build a humane, modern immigration system, centered on a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented.
“We have seen as stark a contrast as has existed in modern times on immigration policy. The stakes could not be higher,” said FWD.us President Todd Schulte. “We hope this report outlines the various potential policy trajectories.”
Schulte predicts that four more years of continued anti-immigrant policies would likely“see America abandon the role as any semblance of a welcoming nation perhaps permanently, and [would further revert] to some of the worst moments in our history.” If elected to a second term, President Trump would also escalate the deportation of millions of people enmeshed as a the fabric of this country, where instead a Biden presidency could and must prioritize a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented. Immigrants of all backgrounds have helped keep everyone living in the U.S. safe and healthy in the midst of the deadly coronavirus pandemic – this includes the farmworkers putting food on our tables, the healthcare workers caring for our sick loved ones, and the researchers dedicating countless hours to finding a vaccine, among millions of others.
- The report outlines the devastating potential consequences of President Trump winning a second term, such as:
Ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) completely – two programs that offer protections from deportation and work authorization to more than one million individuals who have built their lives in the United States. - Making permanent large portions of their historically unprecedented cuts to legal immigration.
- Escalating widespread ICE raids that already keep millions of people living in fear.
- Pushing to eliminate the basic rights of immigrants to be counted at all – constructing the census to under count immigrant communities, stripping citizenship of immigrants who have been naturalized, overturning Supreme Court decisions that allow all children access to K-12 education, regardless of their immigration status, pushed ahead with the likely support of a 6-3 Supreme Court on apportionment by citizenship, and fundamentally reshaping who is considered American by the federal government.
- Isolate and deny immigrants basic life necessities by threatening their eventual ability to earn a green card.
These terrible harms – and more – would compound President Trump’s relentless assaults on immigrants over the past four years. Put simply: the fabric of America and our role in the world would drastically change for the worse, with deep harms echoing for generations to come.
In contrast, the report outlines why it would be critical for a Biden Administration not only to reverse President Trump’s worst offenses, but finally to overhaul a system that has too easily been weaponized, and instead create a pathway for the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S.to become citizens. The American public is broadly supportive of immigrants and immigration, and this support has only grown stronger over President Trump’s first term – including among his own supporters.