One Week Out: Immigrant Youth Leave No Voter Behind

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Adam Luna | adam@unitedwedream.org | 202-796-9372
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Since the stakes couldn’t be higher, immigrant youth have been knocking, calling and texting voters for our Here to Stay campaign

Washington, D.C. and Cities Nationwide – With seven days left before Election Day, immigrant youth of United We Dream Action (UWDA) have been and reaching out to hundreds of thousands of Latinx voters in high stake midterm races across the country.

“The stakes for immigrant young people and our families couldn’t be higher. This is our chance to elect leaders who will fight Trump’s attacks to put us in detention camps, to kill birthright citizenship rights and to deport us. Because I can’t vote, I’m talking to voters every day to make sure they make it to the ballot box,” said DACA recipient Ramon Iturralde from Las Cruces, New Mexico.

The Here to Stay Campaign is turning out voters in key campaigns across the country:

Texas Senate — UWDA endorsed Beto because we know exactly who Ted Cruz is. He is the worst of Trump’s deportation force and he will do everything in his power to deport us and our families.

CA-10 House — Jeff Denham talks a good game since he has undocumented family members, but he still voted with Trump against DACA recipients. He picked party over family.

New Mexico Gubernatorial— Pearce wants to bring the extreme Freedom Caucus to New Mexico to hurt the immigrant youth and our families.

Florida Senate— We know Scott’s record, he vetoed driver’s licenses for undocumented people, opposed DACA and cheered on his Attorney General to sue President Obama to overturn DAPA, which offered protections for millions of parents of U.S. citizen children from deportations.

In these crucial races, UWDA’s Here to Stay campaign exceeded our goal of reaching 500,000 voters and has contacted more than 630,000 voters. In our final push, we will only ramp up our efforts, including volunteering with the Win Justice Coalition in Miami, Florida, canvassing with the United Farm Workers in Modesto, California, organizing a large canvas in Houston, Texas, Las Cruces, New Mexico and college campuses around the state.

Adrian Reyna, Campaign Director of United We Dream Action said, “Over the last two years, immigrant youth have fought against Trump and the Republican Party in Congress as they’ve relentlessly tried to deport, dehumanize and detain immigrants. We’ve seen some of the worst of humanity by Trump in his family separation policies, the killing of DACA and TPS and in the indefinite detention of thousands of immigrant children, It was Republicans who stood by and did nothing to stop Trump – they are more than accomplices to the inhumanity and in empowering Trump’s racist agenda,” said Reyna. 

“That’s why this  Election Day it is imperative, to fight back. Voters are with us and agree these politicians must be punished and kicked out for  hurting our immigrant communities. We must replace them with real champions for immigrants — who will fight for our rights and finally pass a clean, permanent legislation that gives undocumented youth a pathway to citizenship.”

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United We Dream Action is the leading national network fighting for dignity and justice led by immigrant youth and allies. We are a dynamic community of thousands of immigrant youth nationwide who build independent political power for those directly impacted by injustice. We organize and take action to win victories so that all people can be safe and thrive.