For many years, the Republican Party was considered the defender of traditional values, family integrity, and children’s well-being. Today, few traces of these principles remain, especially as prominent Republican politicians actively seek the separation of hundreds of thousands of immigrant families.
Legal fight against immigrant families
Texas leads a coalition of 16 states, headed by Republican politicians, that aims to eliminate the “Keeping Families Together” program, promoted by Joe Biden’s administration. This program seeks to help undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens stay with their spouses.
This program had just begun accepting applications a few days ago, aiming to benefit nearly half a million people without legal status in the United States. However, on August 26, conservative judge J. Campbell Barker of the Eastern District of Texas ordered a temporary program suspension.
The judge stated that the reason for this suspension, which could last 14 days or more, is to give attention to the claims of the plaintiff states. They argue that the program would encourage unauthorized immigration and cause harm to their states. However, the lawsuit does not include evidence to justify such claims.
Legal excuses and electoral games
The lawsuit by Republican leaders against families with mixed immigration status makes no sense. On the one hand, the program does not encourage illegal immigration, as it only applies to people who have lived in the country for at least 10 years. Additionally, the program has strict eligibility requirements and only seeks to regularize the status of those who have already resided in the country for a prolonged period.
This lawsuit does not aim for the well-being or safety of the community; it is merely an attempt to keep the immigration issue alive amid the election campaign, at the cost of the suffering and uncertainty of hundreds of thousands of immigrant families. Sadly, this is not new.
In February, despite Republican leaders spending years pushing the idea that securing the border is a matter of “utmost priority” and demanding urgent legislation on the issue; when a bipartisan agreement finally came, Donald Trump asked his fellow party members to sabotage their own border reform—the toughest in decades—because it did not benefit his reelection campaign.
Cruel immigration policies are not the solution
Of course, border security should be strengthened; that makes sense. What lacks all logic (and humanity) are cruel policies like the unfeasible mass deportations proposed by Trump, or opposing programs like “Keeping Families Together” or DACA without valid arguments.
A report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy highlights the importance of undocumented immigrants across the country in general and in North Carolina in particular.
These individuals, who do not have immigration documents, work permits, or access to public programs, contributed $692.2 million in state and local taxes in 2022. This figure could have risen to $843.6 million if they were allowed to work legally.
We can no longer refer to the Republican Party as a bastion of family values when it disregards the family unity of immigrant households, seeks to gain votes by generating unnecessary fear against millions of workers; and executes policies that actively seek to separate small children from their mothers at the border, as Trump did with the “zero tolerance” plan. We cannot allow this form of cruelty to return to power.
Find this article in Spanish here.