November 1 National Day of Remembrance of Latinxs killed by Covid-19

43,953 Latinxs are reported to have lost their lives to COVID-19 through Tuesday, Oct. 13. As the pandemic takes a spike in the month of October and November with the feared “second wave,” many more are expected to die in isolation and without the assistance of family or relatives, due to health disparities and their position as essential workers at the forefront of the pandemic.

According to a report from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for fiscal year 2018, just over 1,600 homicide convictions were on the criminal records of people arrested by ICE for being in the country illegally. ICE reported a similar number of homicide convictions (1,531) the previous year. This is well below the 10,150 claimed by numbers reported on social media.

The Catholic Church celebrates All Saints’ Day on 1 November, followed by All Souls’ Day on 2 November.  The holiday is a Solemnity in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, a Festival in the Lutheran Churches, as well as a Principal Feast of the Anglican Communion.

However, Donald Trump continues to divide the nation by declaring 1 November as a “National Day of Remembrance for Americans Killed by Illegal Aliens” nationwide. Adding insult to injury, the President continues in his senseless crusade against the Latinx community.

A long-run strategy against the Latinx community

Obsessed with the influx of immigrants through the southern border, in the spring of 2018, as thousands of Central American families crossed to seek asylum, the Justice Department ordered the arrest of migrants entering the country without authorization.

Jeff Sessions, the attorney general at the time, said, “We need to take away children.” It made no difference how young they were. This forced the separation of hundreds of families, even the removal of infants from nursing mothers.

Later, national and international response against this cruelty led the administration to rescind that family separation policy. Still, hundreds of Latinx children are still roaming around separated from their families of origin.

The Administration changed its attack strategy by shutting out asylum seekers through increasing delays in administrative detail, pausing legal processes and ignoring legality.

“Grand” ideas to contain the influx of Latinx immigrants

In March of 2020, the Oval Office met with President Trump fuming about migrants. According to a report, as “White House advisers listened astonished, he ordered them to shut down the entire 2,000-mile border with Mexico — by noon the next day.”

When told that was not feasible, then we continued to offer other grand ideas. The report continues, “Privately, the president had often talked about fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators, prompting aides to seek a cost estimate. He wanted the wall electrified, with spikes on top that could pierce human flesh. After publicly suggesting that soldiers shoot migrants if they threw rocks, the president backed off when his staff told him that was illegal.”

However, in that same March meeting, aides recalled, “He suggested that they shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down.” Aids advised against it as an illegal action.

The “immigration czars,” names to be remembered by Latinxs

Policy czars are typically based out of the White House, where they oversee issues across multiple agencies.

Thomas D. Homan, who had served as Mr. Trump’s acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, recalled that week in March. “The president wanted it to be fixed quickly.” Homan retired in 2017 from the job when the Senate delayed his nomination.

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was taped for as immigration czar at the Homeland Security Department. He now serves as the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security.

Cuccinelli’s pending hiring was intended in part to reassure White House and Homeland Security officials who worried that Kevin McAleenan, the acting Homeland Security secretary, wasn’t aggressive enough to address the crisis at the border.

The reality of Latinxs COVID-19 death numbers is not “fake news”

Latinos and black people together comprise 55% of coronavirus cases, nearly double their U.S. population makeup, according to CDC data released June 15, 2020.

The U.S. COVID-19-associated hospitalization rate is 193.7 per 100,000, according to CDC data updated on Oct. 23, 2020. That is compared to 120.9 on July 24. Hospitalization rates for Latinos are 4.5 times the rate among Whites.

Nationwide, Latinos are 3.2 times more likely to have died than Whites, when age is taken into account.

This November 3rd, make your decision to vote based on real facts. #LatinasVote #RegainourLatinoPower

Support our Petitions to Congress: 2020 Hispanic Heritage Month: Hermanas, time to regain our power