In a local effort to guard against the negative and potentially dangerous effects of President Donald Trump’s barrage of executive orders, first-year Congressman Sylvester Turner recently led a press conference urging Houstonians to know their rights and organize collectively to maintain them.
Some of Trump’s most controversial executive orders, issued during his first two weeks in office, dealt with ending DEI, unleashing the U.S. military as immigration and border officers and freezing much-needed and previously approved federal funds. The fallout has left many people nationally, globally and locally scrambling and seeking answers regarding protecting their seemingly eroding civil and human rights.
“Since President Trump was sworn in about 11 days ago, he has already signed 41 executive orders which is more than half of the 77 executive orders President Biden signed during his four years as president,” said Turner. “Through his executive orders, he has stopped work by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. He has rescinded the order by President Biden to lower the cost of prescription drugs. He has withdrawn the United States from the World Health Organization and the Paris Agreement dealing with climate. And the list goes on. These extreme and divisive executive orders do nothing to lower the cost of everyday items like eggs, milk, healthcare, housing, or insurance.”
The Turner-led press conference, which took place at the Mickey Leland Federal Building (1919 Smith St., Houston 77002), focused on issues Turner described as two of the most discriminatory and divisive ones. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and immigration and deportation.”
U.S. Congresspersons Al Green and Sylvia Garcia were on hand, along with a bevy of Black, Latino, and Asian local lawmakers, union organizers, clergy, civic club officers, and more.
“Black people have got to stand, and Asian people and Latino people, we all have to stand together,” said Green, who this week filed articles of impeachment against Trump. “This is not a fight that we can win siloed… all of the somebodies have to come together and represent everybody.”
Civil rights protections
During the gathering, it was pointed out that Trump has also taken an unprecedented step of pausing all litigation at the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, which is tasked with enforcing laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, gender, religion, and national origin.
“DEI does not mean the unqualified. We are asking for equal opportunities. But you have a president that sees the word Blackhawk helicopter and he thought that meant DEI,” said State Rep. Charlene Ward Johnson, referencing Trump blaming the horrific plane/helicopter crash over Washington D.C. on DEI hires.
State Rep. Lauren Ashley Simmons shared similar sentiments.
“It’s hard for me to wrap my brain around talking about DEI means unqualified when we’re watching Senate confirmation hearings with people who ain’t ever held a title or job and have no experience,” said Simmons.
“Trump, through the mere stroke of a pen, is attempting to further divide this country by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, you name it, whether he has or does not have the legal authority to do so,” said Turner.
Dr. James Dixon, head of NAACP Houston, views Trump’s package of executive orders as a harbinger of perilous times to come, especially for Black people.
“Our late friend Al Edwards coined these words: ‘There were only a few laws between us and the plantation.’ I’ve been repeating his words for the past 20-plus years. And people didn’t think it could ever be the case. And here we are today, the few laws that were between Black people and the plantation are now leaving the books. Understand that your car, your degree, your hair, your color, your height will not keep you from the plantation… We’ve got to stand today and say we are not going back to the plantation.”
NAACP Houston will host a forum on Thursday, Feb. 6 to organize to “support those who support us.”
Immigration
With ICE raids happening nationally targeting residences, workplaces, hospitals, and schools, many who are being arrested and deported have been longstanding U.S. residents with no criminal history.
“People need to know their rights,” said Turner regarding potential local ICE raids. “If somebody’s knocking on your door, you don’t have to open the door. You don’t have to say anything to them. It is important to carry on you ID, whether it’s a library card, if you’re in school student identification. But don’t carry false documents. Because that will create a problem.”
Turner, Green, and Garcia will distribute toolkits throughout the city and their respective congressional districts to respond if ICE agents come knocking.
“Look around you. This is a very diverse group. But unless you look like the ICE officer, they can profile you and they can pick you up. And trust me, some of them will ask questions later. That’s un-American. That is old Gestapo Nazi tactics,” said Garcia.
“ICE and others are not just rounding up persons who have committed crimes, but law-abiding citizens as well. Dreamers, construction workers, farmers are scared. And Americans will pay more for housing and food,” shared Turner.
Remember this: immigrants make up 40% of the construction industry. Sixty percent of the people who harvest our crops are foreign-born. The cost of food could jump by at least 10-20%. I don’t think that is what people voted for. But make no mistake, that is what they will get under this administration.
Cesar Espinoza, head of FIEL Houston (Familias Immigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha), said, “They are expecting us to stay uneducated [about our rights]. They are expecting us to not get together.”
Equal employment opportunities
Turner said that because Trump ordered an end to all programs, initiatives, hiring, contracting, departments, and/or positions related to DEI, thousands of federal employees risk losing their jobs.
Some may even lose their lives.
“These anti-DEI orders are not just political props, but will directly endanger our most vulnerable communities and make us all less safe. There is now real fear that the EPA will be forced to stop its investigation into the Greater Fifth Ward / Kashmere Garden cancer cluster caused by an old rail yard that used a toxic wood preservative… which was found to poison the soil and cause sickness and death to the people who live there,” he added.
Multiple union leaders represented labor, including Hanny Khalil, executive director of the Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO, who commented on the “rainbow coalition” makeup of press conference attendees.
“This is the labor movement, this is us, this is the workforce,” said Khalil. “And right now, working people in the U.S. are under attack. The executive orders President Trump has signed over the last 11 days amount to an unprecedented attack on essential public servants, immigrant workers, and federal services that will harm our country and our economy.”
