BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement on Donald Trump’s executive orders expanding immigration raids across the United States and starting construction on a wall at our border with Mexico.

The orders also penalize communities such as New York City that offer sanctuary to undocumented immigrants.

“This vicious attack on families across the United States cannot stand. There are more than ten million people here, in our communities, who want to obtain legal status and become full members of our civil society. Their numbers include several hundred thousand young women and men who are enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and are now attending college, working, and serving in the armed forces. People of good faith – both Democrats and Republicans – have worked for years to enact comprehensive immigration reform. I have joined in that work. But, with Donald Trump’s executive orders, our immigration laws are under the control of individuals whose dislike of the ‘other’ now dictates policy. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo have pledged to protect all families in New York City. I will join them in that fight.”

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, the Committee on Ethics and the Committee on Small Business in the House of Representatives, proudly represents Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, Park Slope, Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.