Grijalva announces campaign to build opposition to Trump immigration policies
SOMERTON — U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, in a visit here Thursday, announced strategies aimed at swaying public opinion against President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration and, in turn, influencing Congress to act against those policies.
Meeting with area residents and leaders in a roundtable discussion, the Tucson Democrat whose 3rd District includes south Yuma County, said such a campaign is needed to force lawmakers to reconsider their support of the president on the issue of immigration.
Grijalva’s visit followed a series of executive orders announced by Trump, among them increasing the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents by 15,000, building a border wall and increasing the holding capacity of detention centers for illegal immigrants.
“Each of these (measures) requires the support of Congress, and it’s time for congressmen to understand the importance of that and to realize that if they continue following the ideology of Trump, at the end of the day there will be consequences for them,” Grijalva said.
In the meeting at Housing
America Corp. offices that brought together elected and public officials and representatives of area non-profit groups, Grijalva announced that he and other lawmakers from border states have requested an independent study of the impact of Trump’s immigration policies on the economies of border communities and those of other cities dependent on immigrant labor.
The study’s focus will include communities in Yuma County, he said, and it could be a useful tool for local leaders in efforts to persuade their congressional representatives to oppose Trump’s policies.
Through public opinion and a change of attitudes in Congress he said, “we can hold off this tragedy that is causing fear and insecurity in our communities.”
He said he expects the study to be ready before summer, and that its findings will be presented to elected officials, representatives of agriculture and business, and economic development leaders at a public forum in the Yuma area.
“We are going to return to the community and meet with the leadership of business, of economic development and with elected of- ficials, to discuss the study and decide what will be the strategy for communicating the results to all members of congress, whether they are Republicans or Democrats, whether they are allied (with Trump) or not,” Grijalva said.
“If they don’t want to hear about the misery that this is causing among immigrant families, the fear, the disillusionment that many people feel, if they don’t want to deal with the human side of this issue, then at least, in a direct way, we want them to understand that if they continue supporting Trump in this tragedy, there will be severe economic consequences.”
Grijalva predicted the study will show Trump’s policies resulting in a longterm drop in the number of Mexican consumers crossing the border to shop in U.S. businesses that rely on clientele from Mexico.
He also said he plans to organize a future town hall in the area to discuss a variety of other issues of public interest, among them Trump’s calls for the repeal of Obamacare.
The Tucson congressman said his office also plans to organize a workshop on citizenship, with the goal of encouraging legal non-citizen residents of the area who are eligible to apply for naturalization.