Advocacy groups push back against Trump executive orders

Mi Familia Vota said the new policies are “putting the future of this country, our families and out children at risk.”

The executive orders “seek to divide us and in our community we’re ready to show him he can’t break the bonds of family, friendship, mutual respect, and love,” said the group’s executive director, Ben Monterroso. “Today, Trump has placed the burden of an unnecessary and unpopular border wall on taxpayers through an executive order and because of the Republican Party’s inaction we have made no progress in furthering legislation that addresses what voters actually want accomplished: family unification and a pathway to citizenship through comprehensive immigration reform.”

The League of Conservation Voters called the executive actions “profoundly sad and cynical.”

The orders “do nothing to address the real challenges facing our country. Our government’s job is to protect people, not turn its back on them,” said group president Gene Karpinski.

Trump’s order mandated that so-called “sanctuary cities” will no longer be able to receive federal funds except when necessary for law enforcement purposes.

The orders are “extreme and un-American,” according to Voto Latino.

“It’s no surprise that the President is taking such extreme actions, as his campaign used fear mongering and attacks against immigrants and refugees, unlike any other in modern history. And now as President, he’s exploiting fear instead of leading us into the future,” group president and CEO Maria Teresa Kumar said in a statement.

According to Kumar, the actions are not only “a waste of taxpayer money,” but they will “create chaos in an already unjust immigration system.”

California has “sanctuary-cities” and leaders have said they will not enforce any Trump orders on them. Senate Leader Kevin de Leon, a Democrat, called the executive order “unconstitutional.”

“See you in court,” he tweeted.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman echoed de Leon’s tweet, saying Trump lacks the “constitutional authority” to defund sanctuary cities.

“Local governments seeking to protect their immigrant communities from federal overreach have every right to do so,” Schneiderman said in a statement, calling on the president to revoke the executive order “right away.”

Last week, Schneiderman issued legal guidance for sanctuary city jurisdictions, giving local governments and law enforcement agencies in New York the legal tools to enforce sanctuary city policies and “protect their immigrant communities from federal overreach.”

Catholics Charities USA said it would continue to support immigrants.

“Catholics are called to stand with new American immigrants as our brothers and sisters. This is who we are. This is what we do,” the network of charities tweeted.

The Center for Constitutional Rights called the orders “immoral, costly and destructive.”

“Trump’s executive order to retaliate against cities and towns that seek to protect their immigrant communities and families is equally outrageous and anti-democratic,” the progressive legal advocacy organization said in a statement, vowing to resist “in the streets and in the courts.”