Statement – Romney/Ryan complete anti-immigrant ticket for Republicans

MESA, AZ – Paul Ryan, currently embattled by nuns calling his budget plan “not Christian,” has been selected as Mitt Romney’s running mate for Vice President, thus completing the anti-immigrant ticket for the Republican party.

To appease the tea party and the right-wing, Paul Ryan has earned a reputation as an immigration hardliner, and deservedly so: he voted for putting up a border fence between the U.S. and Mexico. While this fence would be about as effective as the one that was climbed, broken through and tunneled under in the show Penn&Teller Bulls*t, it would be an expensive, ineffective project, and a symbol the extreme Minutemen would praise.

On the DREAM Act, Paul Ryan not only has voted no, but goes so far as to give an elaboration on his website about how we must secure the border and blames an unsecured border for why the DREAM Act can’t be implemented. For many of the people who were brought to the country as toddlers, this essentially boils down to a “tough on babies” stance: regardless of how hard that child worked since being brought to the US or how talented, educated, needed by society or innocent that this baby might be, they’re to be sent back to the poverty and violence.

“Mitt Romney has promised to veto the DREAM Act, nationalize Arizona’s SB1070 “papers please law”, and touted self-deportation. It is clear Paul Ryan does not stand with the Latino community since he has not only defended Romney on immigration but also deployed degrading terms including “anchor babies” in speaking about immigrants and their families,” said Erika Andiola, an undocumented youth and national leader from Arizona.

When you add to the list that Paul Ryan has supported the Minute Men, his “not Christian” budget will push deep cuts in services that many Latino communities depend on and his extreme positions on immigration, the Romney/Paul ticket is the wrong choice for Latino voters.

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DRM Capitol Group serves as a voice for undocumented youth and lobbying arm of the DREAM movement. Our work ensures that undocumented youth are represented in the halls of power and are correctly and directly informed of the actions of Congress, Executive Agencies, and the Courts.