Immigration activists in Chicago say they are prepared to go to court if President Donald Trump makes good on an action he tweeted about Monday night.
"In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our great American citizens," Trump tweeted, "I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration in the United States.”
The invisible enemy he’s referring to: the coronavirus.
“We know that COVID-19 is already inside the country and it’s not the fault of immigrants,” said Erendira Rendon, vice president of immigration at the Resurrection Project.
Rendon said the tweet is too vague to know what it will mean for immigrants and those who are already in the process.
“If folks have immigration applications in right now, wait until there’s a little bit more detail on the executive order than he would sign," Rendon added. "Reach out to your attorney to see what this means for your case and we’ll absolutely look at the merits of his executive order, if its constitutional.”
Dagmara Avelar, director of programs for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, agreed, saying, “it is very unclear for us to say who does it impact and who does it not impact."
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Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia weighed in with a statement that read in part, “Trump is a man without a conscience that is using immigration to distract from his failures and is taking advantage of a public health crisis to further his xenophobic agenda. His decision will affect specialized workers, such as doctors, trying to come to our country who would not be allowed to enter."
If Trump goes through with the action, organizers said they will explore their options to fight back.
“We hope that once we know what the executive action looks like," Avelar said, "we are able to get together with experts at the national level to be able to litigate.”
They are all prepared to take this to court.
