Politics
US Rep. Delia Ramirez Says She Will Continue to Push Back Against President Donald Trump’s Immigration Policies
This story was produced in partnership with the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and WTTW News.
by Norah D’Cruze
U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez was the first Latina elected to Congress in Illinois and the Midwest.
During an interview in her Washington, D.C. office, Ramirez, who represents portions of the Northwest Side of Chicago and western suburbs, discussed the resistance to President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies and her belief that Democrats need to more assertive in pushing back against his agenda.
On what she expects those who disagree with the Trump Administration to do:
“This is a moment, a moment in time that will require for people to ask themselves, will I have moral courage to stand up for democracy, to stand up for my neighbors, to stand up for education and the future of this nation? Or will I be a coward leader that will be looked upon in the history books as someone to be shamed for not standing up in this moment? We can be Dr. King, or we can be a supporter of a Hitler-like leader, we get to choose.”
On what it’s like being one of the few Latinas in congress:
“Sometimes it’s me physically walking into committees like Homeland, where I already know that my physical presence in that room will alter the reaction of colleagues of mine.”
On defending underrepresented communities:
“I refuse to allow our communities to be considered and treated as criminals, and that also means that I have talked to my own colleagues in the Democratic Party to remind them who they are and how their grandparents also were immigrants”
On taking care of DACA recipients, known as “Dreamers”:
“We reintroduced the Dream and Promise Act bill, a bill that would create a pathway to citizenship for dreamers with bipartisan support. Pass it.”
Her husband was a DACA recipient who finally received his green card three months ago.
“Even when we got the announcement on that Sunday at 2:20 p.m. that his status after 25 years, had finally been adjusted that joy lasted 10 minutes, because then you have to think about it, ‘I have to call my brothers and my sister to tell them that now I have status, but they won’t.’”
On the importance of immigrants to the economy:
“Is the health of the economy important enough to actually establish some kind of immigration reform that provides them a legal pathway so that we have work permits and people can work, so that my milk isn’t $35, so that my avocados are not $15?”
On her thoughts about the dangers of attacks on the immigrant community:
“They’re the very same people who have dedicated their life to make this country better, and we see them as less than human. … If this doesn’t feel like something we’ve read in our history books, then we have to go back to school and read our history. The persecution of immigrants you are seeing in this precise moment has happened in other nations that has led to the mass murder of groups and masses of people.”
