Border Communities Oppose Trump Visit, Fear Repeat of Racist Anti-Democratic Violence

President Trump will reportedly visit the Lower Rio Grande Valley this week to promote the border wall, in the middle of congressional action to impeach him for his role inciting insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week. Border communities rightly see his trip as an immediate threat to community safety and security.

“We join with the communities along the border in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and call on Alamo Mayor Diana Martinez and others to demand that President Trump cancel his trip,” said Bryan Bird, director of Defenders of Wildlife’s Southwest Program. “Local officials must denounce and oppose his visit and the threat it poses of inciting racist and anti-democratic violence in these communities.”

The Trump administration has repeatedly used border communities to fan the flames of racism and xenophobia since 2016. The Trump administration’s border wall has divided families and communities along the border and jeopardized wildlife, habitat and years of conservation progress and collaboration between the United States and Mexico.

A petition has been started by La union del Pueblo Entero, asking local officials to cancel President Trump’s visit.