Letter - People Power United sent a letter to Congressional leaders to denounce the use of dehumanizing and demagogic rhetoric about immigrants

🗽A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.

People Power United joined other local, state, and national groups to send a letter to Congressional leaders to call out dehumanizing rhetoric. Shout out to America’s Voice for leading these efforts.

Here is the letter sent on behalf of our People Power United membership:

Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Johnson, and Leader Jeffries:

We, the undersigned organizations, call on our elected leaders to collectively and forcefully denounce the use of dehumanizing and demagogic rhetoric about immigrants and to urge other civic leaders around the country to follow suit. There are very serious dangers of normalizing language, such as saying that undocumented immigrants are an infestation, animals, or are not people. These are profoundly vile and dangerous words. Elected officials and leaders around our country have a responsibility to denounce this dangerous rhetoric whenever they hear it and should never engage in it themselves. 

Again and again, researchers have shown that dehumanization is connected to, and a precondition for, discrimination, oppression, violence, and, in extreme cases, murder or even genocide of an outgroup. Dehumanization is often a predictor and a primer of oppression, warming people up to the idea that oppressing another group is acceptable because they are a threat or not fully human. 

Saying that immigrants are engaged in a hostile invasion of the United States or that there is a plot by elites to replace “real” Americans with new immigrants is not just wrong; it is dangerous. This kind of rhetoric, when left unchallenged by our highest leaders, has predictable and deadly consequences. The murderers convicted of mass shootings at a Buffalo grocery store in 2022, an El Paso Walmart in 2019, and a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 all claimed they were repelling an invasion of immigrants. This language can no longer be treated as merely harmless words, but rather the kind of rhetoric that all leaders share a responsibility to confront. 

Immigration is important and demands earnest discussion and debate amongst our public leaders. While vehement policy disagreements are understandable, we implore our elected officials to not only condemn the use of demagogic and dehumanizing rhetoric but to also encourage other public leaders around the country to refrain from using such rhetoric. We cannot allow prejudiced and inflammatory language to dominate critical policy conversations, nor to threaten the safety and liberty of our communities. 

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Signed,

America’s Voice

#WelcomeWithDignity

Acacia Center for Justice

ACLU People Power Fairfax

Adhikaar 

African Communities Together (ACT)

Alianza Americas

American Humanist Association

American Muslim Voice Foundation

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)

Americans for Immigrant Justice

Arab American Institute (AAI)

ARISE Adelante

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC

Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence

Asians for Collective Liberation in Spokane

ASISTA Immigration Assistance

Austin Region Justice for Our Neighbors

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action

Border Vigil of Eagle Pass

Borderlands Resource Initiative

Bridges Faith Initiative

Capital Area Immigrants' Rights (CAIR) Coalition

Carolina Jews for Justice

CASA

Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS)

Central American Resource Center

Central American Resource Center of Northern California - CARECEN SF

Chispa

Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)

Coalition on Human Needs

Communities in Resistance

Communities United for Status & Protection (CUSP)

Community Change 

Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces

Cornell University

Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Washington DC

DRUM - Desis Rising Up & Moving

Estrella del Paso (Formerly DMRS)

FAITH IN TEXAS

FEA Foundation Ministries

Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project

Florida Immigrant Coalition

Florida Rising

Food Justice DMV

Forward Latino

Franciscan Action Network

Frontera de Cristo

GALEO & GALEO Impact Fund

Global Project Against Hate and Extremism

Global Refuge

Greater Spokane Progress 

Habonim Dror North America

HIAS

Hope Border Institute

Human Rights First

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

Immigrant Defenders Law Center

Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project

Immigration Hub

International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)

International Rescue Committee

Jesuit Refugee Service/USA

Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action

Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Justice Action Center

Justice For Our Neighbors North Central Texas

Justice in Motion

Kino Border Initiative

La Raza Centro Legal San Francisco

La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE)

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement

Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center

Latin America Working Group (LAWG)

League of Conservation Voters 

Make the Road CT

Make the Road Nevada

Make the Road New Jersey

Make the Road New York

MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) 

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition

Mauritanian Network for Human Rights

Miami Freedom Project for Democracy, Inc.

MinKwon Center for Community Action

Multifaith Voices for Peace and justice (Palo Alto, CA)

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

National Council of Jewish Women

National Disability Rights Network (NDRN)

National Education Association

National Employment Law Project

National Health Law Program

National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators

National Immigrant Justice Center

National Immigration Law Center

National Immigration Project (NIPNLG)

National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)

National Network of Arab American Communities (NNAAC)

National Partnership for New Americans

Nebraska Appleseed

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice

New York Immigration Coalition

NH Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees 

North Carolina Immigration Law and Justice Center

Oxfam America

People Power United

People's Action

Poder Latinx

Presente.org

Progress Virginia

Project On Government Oversight

Rabbinical Assembly

Refugee Council USA

Regina Weiss

REV UP NC

RuralOrganizing.org

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN)

Sin Barreras Without Barriers, Inc.

SIREN (Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network)

Social Workers for Immigration Justice

Sojourners

Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) 

T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

Tahirih Justice Center

Team Brownsville Inc 

Texas Civil Rights Project

The Advocates for Human Rights  

The Lands Council Climate Justice Program

The Rhizome Center for Migrants

The Sidewalk School

The Sikh Coalition 

The Workers Circle

UndocuBlack Network

UnidosUS

Union for Reform Judaism 

Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice

United Church of Christ

United We Dream

Value our Families

Venice Resistance

Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights

Voces de la Frontera

Voces Unidas RGV 

Voto Latino

Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network

Washington Office on Latin America

Western States Center

Win Without War

Witness at the Border

Women's Refugee Commission

Woori Juntos

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