Jayapal Statement on Day One Immigration Executive Orders by President Trump

SEATTLE, WA - U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Ranking Member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, issued the following statement in response to the executive orders issued today by President Trump related to Immigration:

"Despite campaigning to lower costs for working families, address the housing crisis, tackle the extraordinary levels of economic inequality in this country, and tamp down on inflation, Trump's day one executive orders do none of that. The Executive Orders that nominally 'secure the border' will only create more chaos and disorder at the Southern border and eliminate programs that were proven successful. Plans for sweeping bans on immigration will have major negative impacts on our economy, make it impossible to prioritize serious threats for enforcement, undermine safety and security, and stoke xenophobia to divide us.

"The Biden administration correctly recognized that people were coming to the border because the lawful immigration pathways to this country have not been updated by Congress in 35 years. When Donald Trump was president for the first time, he decimated legal pathways and created even more chaos at the border. To address this, the Biden administration worked to do as much as possible administratively to rebuild the refugee program, initiate parole programs, and implement the CBP One app, all to decrease pressure on the border and reverse the negative actions of Trump. Thanks to those actions from the Biden Administration, President Trump is inheriting lower levels of unauthorized migration at our Southern border than when he left the Oval Office four years ago.

"Today President Trump is once again ending all of those lawful pathways and attempting to reinstate failed programs like Remain in Mexico. This will not address the root causes of why people come to the border, nor will it make us more secure. In fact, his actions today will make us less safe and will cause great harm to vulnerable populations around the world.

"He also signed an appalling Executive Order to end birthright citizenship, a constitutional right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. Plain and simple this is unconstitutional and cannot be done with the stroke of a pen. If enacted, it would make a mockery of our country's laws and the precedents set in the Constitution.

"Today, we are seeing the Trump administration begin to unveil its mass deportation agenda. This agenda starts with these executive orders and will continue as they push through Project 2025. Make no mistake, they are showing us that they want to make every immigrant deportable. In doing so, the Trump administration is inviting the racial profiling of entire communities and subjecting an untold number of American families to being torn apart.

"Over the next four years, I will do everything in my power to protect immigrant families. We must work toward an immigration system that is orderly, fair, and humane while providing real security at the border instead of stoking division and fear."

Issues: Immigration