Despite the national and global outcry over his policy of ripping families apart to stoke his xenophobic, racist base and holding young children in cages as bargaining chips for "his stupid wall," President Donald Trump on Thursday morning--with no apparent sense of irony--bragged about what a wonderful job people think he's doing and declared, "All over the world, people want to come back to the U.S."
While just days after Trump told Republicans in Congress it was a "waste of time" to try to pass immigration legislation, the GOP-controlled House on Wednesday failed to pass what had been touted as their "compromise" bill--one that progressives and immigrant rights groups had slammed as still "extremist," unworkable, and cruel.
"Trump's anti-immigrant agenda has had its day on the floor. It has failed and failed and failed again," said Diana Pliego, a policy associate at the National Immigration Law Center, after the legislation failed by more than 100 votes.
Meanwhile--ahead of nationwide demonstrations planned for Saturday to protest Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy and the detention of child and families--human rights and immigrant justice organizers on Thursday plan to "put their bodies on the line to stop Trump's incarcerating children" as they descend on Capitol Hill.
"The president has created a climate of fear and division for undocumented immigrants and citizens alike," said Winnie Wong, one of the protest organizers, in a Guardian op-ed published Thursday. "We will not allow this to continue."
*Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the location of the direct actions planned for Thursday.
