Assemblyman Michael Blake at the N.Y.C. #DefendDACA
rally on August 30th at Columbus Circle near Trump Tower.
rally on August 30th at Columbus Circle near Trump Tower.
The following statement was submitted by New York State Assembly member Michael Blake.
As a State Assemblyman
representing the most diverse county in the United States, I take it
personally when someone implies that new people coming to the United
States to realize their dreams threatens our communities and detract
from our American identity. The reality is quite the opposite as The
Bronx welcomed my Jamaican parents in the 1970s and does the same for
new families every day, especially because of DACA. There is no Bronx
without diversity. The same goes for America.
President Trump could
undermine that notion any day now by ending the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals program, sending the lives of the nearly 1 million
friends, neighbors, classmates, co-workers, and veterans we call
DREAMers into wild uncertainty. Our fellow brothers and sisters on this
journey of justice, whether Latino, African, West Indian or elsewhere
contribute to our society in every imaginable way, embodying what it
means to work towards the American dream.
When President Obama
first announced DACA five years ago, he proclaimed that “we have always
drawn strength from being a nation of immigrants.” Ending DACA would not
only be bad policy and callous leadership, but, it would also break the
bond that generation after generation of Americans has made to each
other, a bond that says this land is made for you and me.
We reject President
Trump’s prejudices and remind his administration that our unified voices
are stronger than the artificial divisions he seeks to impose could
ever be, which is why we emphatically say that we must #DefendDACA.
Source: The Office of Assemblyman Michael Blake
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