Immigration Suspension Would Be Political Grandstanding At Its Worst

ST. PAUL, Minn. and WASHINGTON — The Center for Victims of Torture™ (CVT) today responded to reports that President Trump is preparing to temporarily suspend immigration to the United States.

“More than 42,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. At least 787,000 cases have been reported in the United States. Immigrants across the country, thousands of torture survivors among them, are putting their lives on the line to help—including serving as doctors, nurses, grocers, food deliverers and personal care attendants—while the president politically grandstands at their expense. Just last week, on the morning after COVID-19 killed more people in the U.S. than on any day prior or since, the president openly encouraged protesters of social distancing restrictions to flout stay at home orders in multiple states. And he expects Americans to believe that a blanket immigration ban is motivated by a desire to protect them? If the president had put half as much time into serious measures to combat COVID-19 as he has into scapegoating and political calculation, many more people would be alive today and fewer would perish going forward.”  — Scott Roehm, director of CVT’s Washington, D.C., office.

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The Center for Victims of Torture is a nonprofit organization headquartered in St. Paul, MN, with offices in Atlanta, GA, and Washington, D.C.; and healing initiatives in Africa and the Middle East. Visit www.cvt.org.