The American Civil Liberties Union complained that President Donald Trump promoted an exclusionary version of America in his State of the Union speech because he wants to enforce immigration law and secure the border.
“Tonight, President Trump said the word ‘America’ more than 80 times in his speech,” the group’s national political director Faiz Shakir said in a statement. “Yet, after a divisive first year, we hear and feel how exclusionary that ‘America’ is, with policies that have harmed so many vulnerable American communities.”
Shakir continued, “The ACLU stands ready to protect these communities, both in the courts and at the polls.”
The ACLU saw a problem with Trump’s proposal to grant amnesty to 1.8 million illegals in exchange for immigration reform and funding to build a southern border wall.
“In particular, the immigration plan put forth by Trump would hold Dreamers hostage to his demands for a harmful border wall and an even larger mass deportation force,” the statement concluded. “We are at this crossroads because of the president’s deeply destructive ideas fomented by his nativist allies and divisive rhetoric. We will continue to stand up for these young immigrants and ensure they continue to contribute to our country. We cannot let America’s Dreamers be deported.”