Thread by @HispanicCaucus

.@realDonaldTrump,

Thanks, but no thanks.

I decline your invitation to attend your Hispanic Heritage Month White House reception.

Your rhetoric, actions & policies betray the values upon which #HHM was founded.

Let me explain...

-@RepLujanGrisham

Your administration has undermined every bipartisan, bicameral effort we have pursued to help our nation’s Dreamers by making hyper-partisan and radical demands. /2

Every Hispanic Heritage Month proclamation specifically included September 15 in order to celebrate the independence of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. /3

Your administration purposefully ignored these conditions and terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants from several countries, including El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. /4

#TPS has allowed immigrants from those countries to live safely and productively in the United States while their home countries suffer from instability and some of the highest rates of violence in the world. Many have lived & contributed to the United States for decades. /5

The hypocrisy of attending a reception that is supposed to honor their contributions and heritage after your administration has threatened their safety and uprooted their lives is glaring. /6

No other policy that your administration has pursued was more heinous than tearing children away from their parents as they fled extreme violence from Central American countries. /7

Cherishing our loved-ones and family is not just the beating-heart of the Hispanic community, it’s a hallowed value of America’s identity, and your effort to rip apart those most sacred bonds is unconscionable. /8

Your policies harming the Hispanic community evolved from your rhetoric. During your presidential campaign and as president, you demonized and dehumanized the Hispanic community and spread fear and untruths. /9

You have ignored and recently tweeted lies about the devastation and loss of life in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria, compared immigration to an infestation, and attacked a judge because of his Hispanic heritage. /10

That rhetoric is not only unbecoming of the President of the United States; it has no place in American political discourse. /11

We are a nation of dignity, humanity, tolerance, and hope, and those shared, essential values transcend our political differences. /12

Those values are the foundation on which #HHM rests; those values are the basis of each #HHM proclamation issued since LBJ; those are the values that I will honor this month as I celebrate the contributions, culture, deep roots & legacy of the Hispanic community in the U.S. /13

As a Hispanic American and Chair of the @HispanicCaucus, I hope you understand why I am unable to do that at your reception.

-@RepLujanGrisham