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New Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus swearing in.
New Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus swearing in. (Photo: C-SPAN)

The only wall we need is to contain Trump, and we already have it in Congress

The country witnessed Wednesday the force of the new U.S. Congress, populated with Latino faces, with promises to create a single wall: one to contain…

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The only wall that Trump has been able to build is formed by a large group of legislators who have closed ranks against his policies.

At a special swearing-in ceremony last Wednesday evening, new members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus promised to take action to put an end to President Donald Trump's aggressive anti-immigrant policies.

Following the massive Democratic gains in the midterm elections, the Hispanic Caucus in Congress now has 33 Democratic members, and a new chairman, Texas representative Joaquín Castro.

Members of the Caucus have expressed their concerns about the effect that the Trump-sponsored government shutdown will have on their communities, especially the newly elected members who represent border districts.

One of them, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16), joined the group's dissent, arguing: “One of the more frustrating aspects for those of us who live and grew up on the U.S.-Mexico border, is to hear people who’ve never even been here purport to be experts on Border Security, purport to be experts on what is happening here.”

Escobar and fellow Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia are the first women to represent Texas in Congress. They have been vocal about what happens on the border, and the effect that the government’s shutdown is beginning to have in the communities there.

“We’ve got to make sure that people are going to be able to file their tax returns and get tax refunds, and we’ve got to make sure people that people have food on the table, that the SNAP (food stamps) program continues," said Garcia, whose congressional district 76 percent Hispanic, according to NBC News. "We've got to make sure that anyone who files a disability claim has a case worker that can process it. I think it’s important that we put the government back to work; it’s hurting people.”

According to the Democratic leaders' statements during the ceremony, the main focus of their work during this year will be "to combat the negative perceptions against Latinos," according to Castro, and will include fighting measures such as the inclusion of the citizenship question on the census, a fight for equal access to healthcare, and the promise to hold the government accountable after the disaster in Puerto Rico.

As NBC continued, the new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, participated in the ceremony and assured the group that "immigration will be a priority in the new session, including maintaining the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) alive.”

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