NDLON CALLS ON AMERICANS TO REJECT ‘GOLD CARD’ CITIZENSHIP

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 26 – President Trump said on Tuesday that he wants to put the United States up for sale. He proposed a program that would let rich people buy $5 million “gold cards” that would entitle them to permanent legal residency and eventual citizenship.

Russian oligarchs, too? Yes, Russian oligarchs, too. “I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people,” Trump said.

The following is a statement from Pablo Alvarado, Co-Executive Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON):

“There are two Americas now. The country we thought we knew, and the country that President Trump is creating before our eyes. A country that worships only brute force and money, not laws and respect for human rights and dignity.

“Selling citizenship to millionaires and billionaires while dehumanizing and brutalizing immigrants who are not the country-club elite. Waving a few past the velvet rope while abducting and deporting thousands of others to prison camps. If this is a joke, it is the cruelest joke imaginable.

“The President talks about ‘shithole countries.’ He means the countries where brown and Black people live. But the term can also be used for countries that run on corruption, bribery, criminality and greed. Countries that devalue human rights, the legal system and respect for women and vulnerable minorities, including immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Are we the ‘shithole country’ now?

“The United States used to be a model for the world – the most powerful country in history, but one that wanted to be known as a defender and protector of the poor and oppressed. A country that gained strength from welcoming others who shared its respect for human rights and the law. That reputation is being thrown away.

“We immigrants know the words engraved beneath the Statue of Liberty, the Emma Lazarus poem that welcomes the tired, poor and homeless from around the world, all those “yearning to breathe free.” Send these to me, says the mighty woman with the torch. That is what America means to us, and to so many millions who came before us.

When we defend immigration and immigrants, we defend the soul and reputation of this great country. We immigrants are fighting that crucial battle right now. Will other Americans stand with us to do the same?”