28 JULY 2023

ICYMI: Vice President Kamala Harris Centers Key Latino Issues and Warns Against Extremism

At UnidosUS Conference, VP speaks up for America’s founding principle of E pluribus unum – Out of many, one – and the need to extend freedom, rights and justice to one and all

WASHINGTON – Earlier this week, Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage at the UnidosUS 2023 Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois, and used the opportunity to speak up for an America that extends and expands equality for all. She contrasted this vision with the extremism of so-called leaders in the Republican Party who are laser-focused on attacking the rights – from reproductive freedom to the right to vote — of hard working Americans, including Latinos.

The Vice President used her platform to recognize the economic and political power of the Latinos in the U.S. She called on Latino leaders to unite and stand in strong opposition against the GOP’s radical attacks on hard-won freedoms and liberties. Her rousing speech brought people to their feet with an exhortation to continue fighting for an America as good as its ideals – one that embraces, not excludes, the Latino community. 

See the full remarks here.

In Case You Missed It…

  • “We have more work to do. For example, on our first day in office, the first bill President Biden introduced was for immigration reform. And while we will fight to support immigrants and to protect DACA recipients, there is no substitute for action by Congress. Congress must create a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, individuals with Temporary Protected Status, and for farmworkers.”

  • “And we must also look ahead to understand the other challenges of the moment we are in; a moment when extremist so-called leaders have a blueprint to attack hard-won freedoms and rights and to do it state by state as part of their national agenda. Across our nation, extremist so-called leaders demonize, target, and attack immigrants.”

  • “In Florida, they just passed SB 1718, a law designed to make people live in fear. A law that makes people afraid to even receive care at a hospital because they fear they will be asked about their immigration status and worry they could be separated from their families and be deported.”

  • “In Texas, we see reports that authorities have pushed children and pregnant women who crossed the Rio Grande back into the river; people who refuse to provide water to other human beings who are in deadly 100-degree heat. Inhumane, outrageous, and un-American.”

  • “And their blueprint goes beyond attacks on immigrants. Because, of course, last year, we know the United States Supreme Court, the highest court in our land, took a constitutional right, that had been recognized, from the people of America, from the women of America. And on this issue, let us be clear; One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that the government should not be telling her what to do with her body. Today, in states across our nation, extremists also attack the freedom to vote. They passed laws to ban drop boxes, to limit early voting, and to make it illegal to offer food and water to people who are standing in line for hours simply to exercise their civic duty and cast their ballot. In this moment, we see our friends and neighbors being targeted because of who they are and who they love.

  •  And we witness the United States Supreme Court strike down affirmative action, give businesses the right to discriminate, and deny student debt relief to millions of Americans. All of this, by the way, when a heartbreaking one in five Americans has lost a family member to gun violence, and when the number one cause of death for our children is gun violence, and they simply refuse to pass reasonable gun safety laws to keep our children safe. And while this violence, of course, impacts all communities, we also know it does not do so equally, when Latino Americans are twice as likely to be victims of gun homicides. 

  • But, again, instead of passing reasonable gun safety laws, these extremists suggest teachers should just strap on a gun in their classroom. This on top of an agenda to ban books and to prevent students from learning our true and full history. Can you imagine -- book bans in this year of our Lord 2023? And for these extremists, that was not enough. They now push forward revisionist history, they push propaganda, they suggest that enslaved people benefited from slavery—as they insult us in an attempt to gaslight us. Well, we will not have it. We will not have it.”

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 The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy, and collaborative partnerships.