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One_liners
_SBCC steering committee member Pedro Rios of American Friends Service Committee is quoted in this profound story about state-sponsored violence and psychological warfare against trans-border communities.
_SBCC steering committee member Mark Adams of Frontera de Cristo shares these stories of asylum seekers waiting in Mexico, how some groups of faith are providing accompaniment, and what people can do to help.
_Representing the sentiment of a majority of New Mexicans, SBCC member organizations Southwest Environmental Center and NM Comunidades en Acción y de Fé wrote a commentary pushing back against a Luna County resolution supporting the border wall.
_So this is weird, hypocritical, racist: Trump signed a law protecting private landowners from the federal government seizing their lands next to the Red River on the border between northern Texas and Oklahoma, but he’s totally cool with stripping away land from private property owners in the Rio Grande Valley to build his stoo-pid wall???
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Must_reads
_All-American reject. Senators voted 59 to 41 to reject Trump’s fake national emergency he declared to raid military and other agency funds to build his wasteful and harmful border wall. Twelve of these votes were from Republicans, possibly in consideration of Op-Eds from conservatives and former national security experts against the national emergency declaration. The Senate joined the House and the vast majority of voters, who according to the latest polls oppose the emergency declaration. A special thanks goes out to Border Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Tom Udall (D-NM) for standing strong with border communities who oppose the wall. Now what? Well, it doesn’t come as a surprise to us that despite overwhelming rejection by Congress and voters that Trump has vowed to dictatorially veto the bill. While a tall order, we’re hoping Congress listens to the vast majority of voters and rallies support in both chambers to override his veto. ¡Sí se puede!
_No Victory Lap Yet. While we’re grateful that Congress passed the resolution, in truth, it only affects the more than $3 billion taken from military construction funds. Trump is still raiding other agencies to find the money to build his harmful wall. And this doesn’t even begin to address the harms to border communities caused by funding in fiscal years 2018 and 2019, as this story of resistance clearly illustrates. We’ll keep on fighting ‘til the end.
_Tyrannical Inclinations. The passing of the national emergency rejection resolution also comes as Trump continues his cruel and baseless attacks against immigrant and border communities by asking Congress in his Fiscal Year 2020 budget to slash domestic spending on vital programs and instead approve billions of dollars to build more walls, hire thousands of ICE and CBP officers, add ridiculous numbers of detention beds, and deploy federal agents throughout the country to patrol mass transit systems — pushing the country deeper into a state of tyranny. Ironically, his tyrannical inclinations are coming from a supposed commitment to an ignorant campaign promise to build a border wall, yet he is quick to ignore other campaign promises he made, like protecting Medicare and Medicaid. Selective memory at its best.
_A Bold and Promising Dream. More than 200 House members introduced the American Dream and Promise Act (H.R.6) that would provide a needed solution for millions of people facing separation from their families and loved ones and deportation from the only country they’ve really known. Southern border communities are home to 1 in 5 Dreamers and thousands of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforcement Departure (DED) holders. Here is our statement in support the initiative. For a deeper explanation about the American Dream and Promise Act, please visit this website of the National Immigration Law Center_one of SBCC’s national allies. Let’s show peeps what we’re really made of and make this dream come true!
_Asylum-seeker inferno. Trump’s policies are making life a living hell for families and children fleeing violence and poverty (a lot of it the result of U.S. policies, btw) and seeking protections at our southern border. Enforcement officials are tear-gassing families, continuing to separate families, forcing people to wait weeks, if not months, in Mexico before they can apply, returning 240 people (to date) who are eligible to apply for asylum to Mexico to wait for their court hearings — with disastrous glitches — placing families in detention or releasing them with ankle monitors, and implementing more heinous “deterrence” policies. Adding insult to injury, we now learn that Mexican officials are extorting asylum seekers at the border. Basta with this. The greatness of our nation will be judged by how we treat the most vulnerable, right?
_Thank You. Thank you for making calls, sending emails, and tagging social media to your Senators to reject Trump’s #FakeEmergency. The fact that almost 60 senators (which would have been a Hastert rule majority) voted to support the resolution speaks to your commitment to push back against the potential tyranny of a misguided president. We will need to continue to push back in the coming months to stop an administration that aims to consolidate power and resources in the executive branch. We will be asking you to call on Congress to exercise its constitutional power to check this president. We need a federal budget that reflects our values of hope, fairness, and opportunity, not a budget that enables a would-be tyrannical president. We need to invest in good governance that is accountable to voters and strengthens, not weakens, our democracy. Let’s #RevitalizeNotMilitarize!
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border_lines is published every Friday for your reading pleasure. If you’d like to submit an item for inclusion, please email Vicki B. Gaubeca at [email protected], by Wednesday COB.