The former president recently told a right-wing website, for instance, that undocumented migrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” Earlier in November, The New York Times reported on Trump’s immigration plans for 2025, which include large-scale roundups of migrants who would be sent to detention camps while awaiting expulsion.
In a press release this month, the League of United Latin American Citizens blasted Trump’s proposals as “extreme,” “inhumane,” “racist” and “unchristian.” The civil rights organization called on faith-based groups and those who describe themselves as “patriots” to denounce the Republican candidate’s agenda.
LULAC National President Domingo Garcia is a local attorney, former state representative and former Dallas mayor pro tem. He railed against Trump’s 2025 plans as “sick and detestable,” adding that the candidate’s speeches work to “inflame the deepest, most deranged hatred against immigrant Latinos and people of color.
“LULAC calls upon every American who believes we are a nation of immigrants and diversity to turn away from Trump's race-baiting tribal politics as dangerous,” Garcia continued in the news release. “We have seen in history what happened when race-baiting, anti-Semitic, immigrant scapegoating are left unchallenged by good men and women."
With less than a year before the 2024 election, the former commander-in-chief is reviving and intensifying his anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ+ agendas. Advocacy groups in Texas and beyond are sounding the alarm about the damage such ploys can inflict on vulnerable communities.
The way LULAC sees it, Trump’s attacks run counter to “the principles of America and Christianity.”
Regardless, the divisive Republican figure remains popular among his base. A recent Harvard-CAPS Harris Poll survey suggests that, in a hypothetical 2024 face-off, Trump would gain 48% support to Democratic President Joe Biden’s 41%.
The New York Times’ reporting found that Trump is seeking to bring back the so-called Muslim travel ban and to deport untold numbers of undocumented migrants — even those who’ve lived here for decades. And where would these millions of immigrants likely be held while waiting to get kicked out of the country? Camps that would be built right here in Texas.
Trump also reportedly once proposed bombing Mexico in an effort “to destroy the drug labs.”
Dallas’ Amanda Tyler serves as the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and is the lead organizer of Christians Against Christian Nationalism. In an emailed statement to the Observer, she said that Trump’s vow to revive his Muslim travel ban policy is concerning to her as someone who advocates for religious liberty.
No one should be rebuffed from entering the country just because of how they worship or pray, Tyler said.
“The Muslim travel ban policy is one part of the extremist, anti-immigrant agenda that Trump is running on and which denies the God-given dignity of all,” she continued. “I'm heartened by the faith-based advocacy from a number of different religious communities which are voicing opposition to cruel policies towards refugees and immigrants."
"We know this type of language only sows hate and fear amongst communities." – Denisse Molina, Beyond Borders Program at TCRP
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On Nov. 19, Trump received an endorsement from Gov. Greg Abbott in Edinburg, a city near Texas’ southern frontier. Critics have warned that Abbott’s own repeated anti-immigrant “invasion” rhetoric could work to inspire violence against Latinos.
Meanwhile, Abbott continues to boast about the state’s efforts to bus incoming migrants to liberal-led cities across the country.
Regardless of one's immigration status, Trump’s 2025 plans are “direct attacks on communities of color,” said Denisse Molina, the humanitarian outreach coordinator for the Beyond Borders Program at the Texas Civil Rights Project. She warned that such policies would mean that communities in Dallas and beyond would be exposed to abuses including family separations, racial profiling, unlawful arrests and prolonged detention.
Molina said via email that major societal sectors would also be affected, from the economy to the education system. “We must be critical and understand that Trump’s immigration plans are designed to target anyone who does not look like HIM,” she wrote.
Politicians seeking to rally supporters often scapegoat immigrants using dangerous and racist rhetoric, “all while ignoring the real impact these words have on LatinX and people of color's lives,” she said.
“We know this type of language only sows hate and fear amongst communities — similar rhetoric was at the root of the El Paso tragedy, where a violent extremist took the lives of innocent people,” Molina continued. “This language strips people of their humanity and labels people as other, it is time for politicians to acknowledge the danger their words inflict and the human lives at stake.”
