WASHINGTON, D.C.—People For the American Way (PFAW) today released the following statement from PFAW Political Director Lizet Ocampo in response to Trump’s prime-time television address last night about the crisis he created on the U.S./Mexico border. Ocampo leads PFAW’s Latinos Vote! program.

“Trump’s eight minutes of monotone racism got us no closer to reopening the government or paying federal workers what they have already earned. Virtually everything the president said about immigration last night was an outright lie or a deception.

“Immigrants follow the law more assiduously than people born in the U.S., and most picked up by border agents have no criminal history—but the president wasted the nation’s time on lurid details of a tiny number of extreme crimes to try to demonize millions of people.

“The crises at the border and in Washington are Trump’s creations, and immigrants and the Latino community will not be scapegoats for Trump’s failure to govern. Time and again, we have seen Trump turn to fear and racism for political purposes, especially when he’s flailing.

“In 2020, we need to send a message that we reject the politics of division.”

Latinos Vote! is already running two digital ads targeting 2020 voters in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Virginia in response to Trump’s tear gas attacks on migrants and the deaths of children in Department of Homeland Security custody.