Issued April 21, 2020
WASHINGTON—SEIU International Executive Vice President Rocio Sáenz issued the following statement reacting to President Trump’s plans to suspend immigration to the United States:
"The American people won't be fooled. The latest Trump administration move to shut down all legal immigration is yet another desperate effort to deflect, divide and distract Americans from his failure to provide basic protections from Covid-19.
"Instead of focusing on producing and distributing more Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), investing in accessible testing and treatment and providing economic relief for all working families, president Trump is using this crisis to promote his anti-immigrant agenda.
"Many SEIU members who are on the frontline of this crisis are immigrants. They are nurses, doctors, health care workers, and janitors, who are taking risks to perform critical and essential roles in order to save lives and keep America running. They deserve better than a president who is obsessed with scapegoating immigrants.
"We call on politicians to unite people during this crisis, not to divide us by race, ethnicity or immigration status. We will not let them divide us. We stand together—Black, white, Latinx, Asian Pacific Islander, Native—and fight together so we can prevail together in this public health crisis."