Lee Gelernt, the deputy director for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, called for leftists to take to the streets in order to help block President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda because the judicial system will only be able to do so much.
Open-border advocates are worried Trump will follow through on his campaign promise to carry out the largest deportation operation in recent history to address the Biden-Harris border crisis, which allowed millions of illegal immigrants to enter the country.
‘I do think that there is going to be a breaking point.’
“I think we’re going to do things different just because this is going to be a different playbook by them. I think they’re going be more prepared, and so we’re going to have to be much more strategic in how we go about it,” Gelernt told MSNBC.
“We’re going to have to coordinate among groups. … I think that we are going to try to be strategic, and we have to be clear-eyed about what we can win and what we can’t win. And I think that’s one of the reasons why I want to stress to people: We need you in the streets because the courts will not always do everything for us,” he continued.
MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle asked Gelernt if there’s more tolerance for Trump’s bold immigration policies because he won not just the Electoral College but also the popular vote, which would affect the number of people who would protest the measures.
“I do think that there is going to be a breaking point. I think that it is one thing during the election when everyone says that we want to do something about it. There hopefully are going to be really common-sense solutions that we can push back on, but I do think there are going to be lines,” Gelernt replied.
Gelernt admitted that “line” might have moved “a little bit,” and that’s one of the things that “keep us up at night.”
The Trump campaign has stated since election night that the new administration very much plans on following through with the deportation operation, starting on his first day in office. So far, the protests against Trump’s win have been muted compared to 2016, with a few cities, such as Seattle, Portland, and Chicago seeing some protests.
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Politics, Aclu, Trump
