OUR CALL, PLEDGE, AND COMMITMENT

OUR CALL, PLEDGE, AND COMMITMENT

For many of us the results of this election process represents what American families do not stand for. Mr. Trump, when you denigrate a community for their nationality or their ethnic background, you are wrong. When you promote aggression and violence against immigrant families, you are wrong. When you believe that the best immigration practice is to separate children from their parents, you are wrong. When you label all of us as a rapists and criminals because we immigrate to the US looking for a better live for our children, you are wrong. When your main proposal to fix our immigration system is to deport 11 million immigrants, you are absolutely wrong.

No vote can justify and approve your vision that undermines anyone’s human and civil rights. Not a million of votes can make your racism and xenophobia the norm and common currency in our American society. Nor can the Presidency allow you to ignore the contribution and sacrifice by our immigrant families to make America truly great.

Today, at this moment when the clouds of uncertainty and despair invade the souls and hearts of our community, at the border and in the interior, the Border Network for Human Rights make the following pledge to all of our members, our allies, and our communities:

• That we will never accept racism as the guiding measure for this or any administration, or for American society.  As long as our communities are here we will fight and resist racism in any form against all people.
• That we are committed to defending DREAMERS, our detained families, families that have been separated, and undocumented immigrants struggling for rights and dignity.
• That we are committed to resisting mass deportation.  Our communities cannot and will not tolerate families and neighborhoods being torn apart.
• That we are committed to defend border communities against further militarization of border enforcement and to ensuring that border communities have a strong voice in support of just, humane policies.
• That we will stridently oppose efforts by the State of Texas, and other states and localities, to target immigrant and border communities whether by legislation or executive action.
• That we will continue the long struggle for a humane immigration reform.  Even in this dark hour, we must have a pathway to citizenship for those already in the U.S. and a legal immigration system that advances human dignity and reflects the realities of America.
• That we are committed to continuing #HugsNotWalls.  Now more than ever, it is vital that we as a border community come together and show the world our values: inclusion, a belief in our common dignity and decency, and the knowledge that love will overcome any obstacle.
• That we are committed to educating, organizing, and mobilizing communities so that they know and assert their civil, constitutional, and human rights.  This has been the backbone of BNHR for 18 years, and we know it will lead us to victory over xenophobia and hate in the end.
• That we are responsible for educating our children as the new generation of citizens, with the values of solidarity, fellowship, inclusion and acceptance that once made America a country that welcomed immigrants.

We know the path in front of us will not be easy.  In the aftermath of this election, we must come forward and remind ourselves, and our children, to transform our fear into courage, our depression into participation, and to meet shame with dignity and pride. We all must make an unwavering commitment to protect our children, family and communities in these coming months and years.  The best way forward is to organize as individuals and communities united in striving for those Jeffersonian ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

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The Border Network for Human Rights, founded in 1998, is one of the leading human rights advocacy and immigration reform organizations located at the U.S./Mexico Border. BNHR has over 7,000 members in West Texas and Southern New Mexico.