Dear MoveOn member,
On Monday, amidst the chaos of the purge of top immigration officials in the Trump administration, The Wall Street Journal released a terrifying report that Donald Trump has told Stephen Miller that he is now "in charge" of America's immigration policy.1
For years, news reports about Miller have called him an immigration hard-liner, but let's be clear: Stephen Miller is a white nationalist.
Stephen Miller has long been the engine behind some of the Trump administration's most heinous, racist immigration policies. He crafted the original Muslim Ban, helped to orchestrate the family separation policy, and is responsible for killing a bipartisan immigration bill that would have protected DACA recipients.2
If Congress doesn't step in to stop Stephen Miller from acting as the de facto head of the Department of Homeland Security, the consequence will be a moral and humanitarian catastrophe.
Miller has advocated for extreme reductions in all forms of immigration to the United States, including slashing the number of refugees admitted to almost zero.3 He used the death of 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin, who died while in Customs and Border Patrol custody in December, as an excuse to advocate for a border wall.4 And he has routinely spouted racist, xenophobic lies used by white nationalists to spread fear and misinformation about immigrants and asylum seekers.5
With your help, MoveOn will:
- Flood Congress with calls demanding that they condemn Stephen Miller and refuse to confirm any appointee to DHS who supports the family separation policy. Many members of Congress, including some Republicans, have voiced concerns, but we know that the only way to influence Trump is with an overwhelming wave of bad press coming from both sides of the aisle.
- Push Democratic presidential candidates to call for Stephen Miller to be fired. This must be a line in the sand for any candidate seeking support from progressives across the country.
- Create powerful videos and digital ads that highlight just how terrible Stephen Miller's policies are. Miller has succeeded in staying in the shadows, which means we must shine a light on his backroom dealings and inhumane policies in order to build awareness and outrage.
- Collect petitions and run ads demanding that universities, corporations, and think tanks refuse to hire Stephen Miller or any other administration official who supports family separation. No one who helped craft this policy should get to leave the White House for a lucrative position. MoveOn will put pressure on entities considering employing former officials and call on them to publicly refuse them positions.
Let's be clear: Neither former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen nor any of the other recently fired DHS officials should be considered "moderates," and reports that Stephen Miller crafted their firings in order to get tougher on immigration should horrify us all.6
Nielsen implemented the horrific family separation policy that ripped thousands of children away from their parents at the border. She oversaw the creation of tent cities and jail-like facilities for babies and small children. She supported the government shutdown and national emergency declaration to build Trump's wall. She facilitated the unlawful closing of border crossings and refusal to process asylum claims. And she was in charge when multiple children died in the custody of Customs and Border Patrol.
If Stephen Miller and Donald Trump think that is not tough enough, it is hard to imagine how much more ruthless policies will become with Miller behind the wheel.
When Donald Trump implemented family separation last year, an enormous grassroots outcry forced Republicans and Democrats to join together to condemn family separation—and end it. Now, with Miller in charge, we risk even worse policies. We must raise our voices now and ensure this is stopped before more children are thrown in cages and torn from their families.
Please click here to chip in $3 right now.
Thanks for all you do.
–Corinne, Scott, Jayne, Robert, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "White House Seeks Tighter Grip on Immigration Policy," The Wall Street Journal, April 8, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/64858?t=6&akid=231490%2E10220574%2ELbBdp-
2. "At the center of Trump's Homeland chaos, Stephen Miller is the lone survivor," NBC News, April 8, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/64859?t=8&akid=231490%2E10220574%2ELbBdp-
3. "Trump to Cap Refugees Allowed Into U.S. at 30,000, a Record Low," The New York Times, September 17, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/64860?t=10&akid=231490%2E10220574%2ELbBdp-
4. "Trump officials and right-wing media use Jakelin Caal Maquin's death to rally for Trump's wall," Media Matters for America, December 18, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/64861?t=12&akid=231490%2E10220574%2ELbBdp-
5. "Inside Stephen Miller's hostile takeover of immigration policy," Politico, August 29, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/64862?t=14&akid=231490%2E10220574%2ELbBdp-
6. "The Stephen Miller purge of DHS," CNN, April 8, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/64863?t=16&akid=231490%2E10220574%2ELbBdp-
Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?
Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.
Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on April 10th, 2019. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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