Last night, the White House released a proclamation observing November 1st as the “National Day of Remembrance for Americans Killed by Illegal Aliens,” a day made up by President Donald Trump to support endless crusade to demonize immigrants and foreign asylum seekers.
It should be noted that November 1 is already the Mexican Dia De Los Muertos, an annual holiday commemorating dead family members.
“As American citizens,” the proclamation reads, “these precious lives are an irreplaceable piece of our national community. We solemnly stand with their families — our Angel Families — who have endured what no American family should ever have to suffer.”
The proclamation then largely goes on to praise Trump for working with ” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Officers, Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBPOs), Border Patrol Agents, and other law enforcement officials.” However, the proclamation does not actually provide a number for people allegedly killed by undocumented immigrants.
“Under my watch, the voices of our Angel Families no longer fall on deaf ears. Americans who are killed by illegal aliens are no longer forgotten, and we are ensuring that they will not have died in vain,” the proclamation continues.
The proclamation also declares an agency he created in the Department of Homeland Security called Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) for tracking crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.
Here’s the thing about Trump and VOICE though: Trump has a history of just spouting off completely made-up numbers of such crimes.
In a January 2019 prime time address, Trump said, “In the last two years, ICE officers made 266,000 arrests of aliens with criminal records including those charged or convicted of 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 violent killings. Over the years, thousands of Americans have been brutally killed by those who illegally entered our country and thousands more lives will be lost if we don’t act right now.”
Except, as ABC News points out, there’s no national database for crimes committed by immigration status, and available studies actually show that crime rates are lower among immigrant groups than among native-born Americans. While Trump’s rally speeches this week mentioned the need to stop terrorists (ie. Muslims) from Syria, Somalia and Yemen, right-wing terrorists have killed more people on U.S. soil than jihadis have since September 11, 2001.
Trump’s adviser Stephen Miller has said that if Trump gets a second term, he’ll limit asylum, target “sanctuary cities,” expand the “travel ban” and cut work visas.