Global Policy Solutions chief Maya Rockeymoore Cummings said Tuesday that President Trump’s “dehumanizing” rhetoric and policies on immigration could hamper any future progress on reform.
“I am not so sure that the demagogy that we’ve seen from President Trump and the Republicans hasn’t made that toxic,” Cummings told Hill.TV co-host Krystal Ball said in response to whether Democrats and Republicans will be able to make a deal on immigration.
The policy consultant cited Trump’s “zero tolerance” border policy this year that resulted in migrant families being separated from their children after entering the U.S. The president later reversed on family separations, but hundreds of migrant kids still remain separated from their parents.
Cummings said that Trump hasn’t stopped there, saying the president is now “demagoguing” about the migrant caravan that’s making its way to the southern border from Central America.
“In terms of saying they’re less than human, dehumanizing them — I think it makes it toxic for there to be perhaps any kind of compromise in that space,” she said.
Trump has repeatedly attacked the migrant caravan, calling it an “invasion” and vowing to use the military to stop people from crossing the border.
The president has made his immigration rhetoric his closing pitch for voters in the final days leading up to the midterm elections.
Last week, Trump tweeted a controversial new ad linking the migrant caravan with Luis Bracamontes, a man convicted of killing two California police officers.
The ad, which critics called racist, was pulled from the air by both NBC and Fox News.
Trump stood by the ad, arguing Monday that “a lot of things are offensive.”
Cummings said she found Trump’s final pitch to voters very troubling and that doubling down on this rhetoric undermines American democracy and any hope for a unified nation.
“It’s time for us to move forward — not look backward — and I certainly hope that the president gets that message.”
— Tess Bonn
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