SAN DIEGO, CA — Today, President Trump plans to visit the deadly border wall in Otay Mesa while in San Diego as part of a Southern California tour designed to raise money for his reelection campaign based on his hateful and racist anti-immigrant policies.
Trump’s visit comes as several of his border wall projects in Arizona are stalled due to insufficient funds, despite the fact that he has raided military and disaster readiness budgets, and pilfered funds from social initiatives such as pre-school programs.
The last time the President visited San Diego was in April of 2019, where he was met with demonstrations by community activists who oppose his hateful anti-immigrant policies and violent war against immigrants.
This time, Congress is only weeks away from what may be another government shutdown due to the current administration’s refusal to back down on its exorbitant funding for Department of Homeland Security and other enforcement-only immigration policies. Border Communities and partner organizations are out in full force against Trump’s cash grabs for his war against immigrant families, and are urging Congress once again to defund ICE and CBP.
Lillian Serrano, Chair of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, and member of Alianza Comunitaria, issued the following statement:
“The San Diego border region has always been one of hope, opportunity and welcoming, and, as home to the largest port of entry in the world, we’ve enjoyed the many benefits of our binational way of life. To have the President of the United States come to our border town to raise money so that he can further desecrate our way of life is an insult to our communities and to the asylum families in need that he has funneled into the private detention facility in Otay Mesa. To have him stand in front of the deadly border wall for yet another selfie is political opportunism at its worst. Instead of meeting with Border Patrol and the rest of his deportation force, as well as the political insiders who benefit from caging people, he should listen to the voices from the region who are calling for an end to his harmful policies that threaten our binational character.
We need policies that uphold public safety, protect human rights, and welcome all people to our region, and we need to stop funding Trump’s deportation force which only hurts our vibrant border communities.”
About San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium
The San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium is a project of Alliance San Diego. Since 2007, community, faith, labor, and legal organizations have come together as the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium (SDIRC). Through SDIRC, these organizations are pursuing four common goals: support comprehensive immigration reform; stop the spread of local policies and practices that target and violate the civil and human rights of immigrants; educate immigrants, and educate the public about the important contributions of immigrants. More at www.immigrantsandiego.org.
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