Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) on Thursday evening rejected President Donald Trump’s invitation to attend a Hispanic Heritage Month reception at the White House, claiming Trump has lied about Puerto Rico’s death toll after Hurricane Maria and “demonized and dehumanized the Hispanic community.”
“During your presidential campaign and as president, you demonized and dehumanized the Hispanic community and spread fear and untruths. You have ignored and recently tweeted lies about the devastation and loss of life in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria, compared immigration to an infestation, and attacked a judge because of his Hispanic heritage,” Lujan Grisham wrote in a letter to the White House. “That rhetoric is not only unbecoming of the President of the United States; it has no place in American political discourse.”
Lujan Grisham blasted Trump for eliminating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for those form Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras.
But she said no other Trump administration policy “was more heinous than tearing children away from their parents as they fled extreme violence from Central American countries.”
“Using your power to intentionally inflict trauma and fear on children violated common decency, betrayed our nation’s deepest held beliefs, and led to a national outcry condemning your actions,” she wrote.
Lujan Grisham added that she has fundamentally opposed Trump’s “policies, actions, and rhetoric.”
“We are not a nation of fear, cruelty, divisions, or prejudice,” she wrote. “We are a nation of dignity, humanity, tolerance, and hope, and those shared, essential values transcend our political differences.”
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