PHOTOS: Flavors of First State featured at 9th Annual Taste of Delaware

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dec. 12, 2019
CONTACT: Brendan Mackie at 302.468.0545

191211-Kent-Milford-Mispillion-River-593 WASHINGTON – More than 650 people joined U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and the Delaware State Chamber for the 9th Annual Taste of Delaware at the Russell Senate Office Building on December 11. The annual event, which was free and open to the public, featured food and drinks from the First State.

The Taste of Delaware, which celebrates Delaware ratifying the Constitution in 1787, showcased some of the First State’s best flavors from destinations such as Brick Works (Millsboro), Capriotti’s (Wilmington), Dogfish Head (Milton), Double Spiral Chocolate (Ardentown), Home Grown Café (Newark), Kee’s Cookies & Cupcakes (Clayton), SoDel Concepts (Rehoboth Beach), The Starboard (Dewey Beach), and Sea Watch (Milford).

To download this released image and other hi-resolution photos, visit https://bit.ly/2P9BTzP.

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[VIDEO] Sen. Coons: AG Barr is “acting as President Trump’s personal attorney” instead of nation’s top law enforcement officer

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe this morning to discuss the Justice Department inspector general’s report.

“President Trump since he became president has been claiming that the investigation into his campaign’s activities was a witch hunt and a hoax. That’s an investigation that produced six convictions of some of his most senior folks, his campaign manager, his personal attorney, his national security advisor, and this inspector general report shows that it was without bias and well-founded,” said Senator Coons.

“President Trump’s got one personal attorney who is currently serving jail time, another one who is mucking around in Ukraine again and has frankly become somewhat of a laughingstock, despite his respected tenure as mayor of New York, and so if Attorney General Barr wants to join that company, I think ultimately, he will go down in history as a discredited attorney general,” said Senator Coons.

Video and audio available here.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: What did you make of Attorney General Barr’s comments denouncing the DOJ Inspector General?

Senator Coons: This was a striking action by the Attorney General to try and continue to pump up these fake conspiracy theories that Republicans in support of Trump’s campaign to discredit the ongoing impeachment inquiry have been spreading. Later this morning, we are going to have a hearing on the Senate Judiciary Committee about Inspector General Horowitz’s investigation – an investigation that concluded that the FBI was without bias and properly and well-founded as they launched the investigation into the then-Trump campaign and Russian interference into the 2016 election. That Attorney General Barr dismisses that out of hand, in sharp contrast to the FBI Director, Chris Wray, who stands by the conclusions of the inspector general, is to me just one more piece of evidence to me that the attorney general is not our nation’s top law enforcement officer, but is instead acting as President Trump’s personal attorney.

Q: What do you hope happens beyond Stephen Miller getting fired, how do you think that’d even happen?

Senator Coons: Well in any previous administration, someone in the modern era who is revealed to have views so wildly different from what is acceptable in the United States, in our modern society, would have been thrown out years ago. It tells us everything we need to know about where President Trump is on immigration policy, on his views of people of different racial backgrounds, and where some of his most divisive actions have come from. Those of us in the Senate who’ve worked on a bipartisan basis to try to resolve some of our impasses over immigration, for example, can see a straight line between Stephen Miller’s hateful views and opinions and the decision to separate parents from their children at the border or the decision to dramatically reduce the number of refugees accepted into the United States. These have long been bipartisan positions that we don’t use cruelty towards immigrant children as a tool of our policy, that as a nation, many of whom came here as refugees ourselves, it is a nation whose families have a history of seeking asylum in this country where we don’t block those seeking refuge. Stephen Miller is, I think, a cancer at the very heart of the values of this presidency. I hope that more senators will join us in saying, these expressed views released in recent emails show that not only is he disqualified from serving, but that President Trump should abandon his hateful rhetoric and move towards representing all Americans.

Q: Which Lindsey Graham is going to show up to the Senate Judiciary hearing today?

Senator Coons: Of course, I hope that the Chairman Graham who shows up this morning will be the seasoned attorney, someone who understands and respects the role of the inspector general, someone who sounds more like FBI Director Wray, who has accepted the findings of his report. I am concerned that we are more likely to see the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing Lindsey Graham who is full of aggression and anger and at times even venom and who is a vigorous, forceful defender of everything President Trump is saying or has said. I’ll remind you, President Trump since he became president has been claiming that the investigation into his campaign’s activities was a witch hunt and a hoax. That’s an investigation that produced six convictions of some of his most senior folks, his campaign manager, his personal attorney, his national security advisor, and this inspector general report shows that it was without bias and well-founded. That is the conclusion that I hope Chairman Graham accepts in this morning’s hearing, but given the current environment here in the Senate, I suspect we are in for a rough ride this morning.

Q: What are your thoughts about how Attorney General Barr has evolved as Attorney General? What happens to Chris Wray?

Senator Coons: I’ve known Chris Wray since law school and I voted against Attorney General Barr and I voted for FBI Director Wray in their confirmation hearing processes, and I suspect events in the days and weeks ahead may bear out the differences in their approaches. There are thousands of men and women every day who go to work at the FBI to protect our nation, to keep us safe, and to uphold our laws and Constitution. The attorney general of the United States should be the head of the Department of Justice, the person whose personal oath is to the Constitution, not to any one president. I’ll remind you, President Trump’s got one personal attorney who is currently serving jail time, another one who is mucking around in Ukraine again, and has frankly become somewhat of a laughingstock despite his respected tenure as mayor of New York, and so if Attorney General Barr wants to join that company, I think ultimately, he will go down in history as a discredited attorney general. I am impressed that FBI Director Wray is standing up to President Trump’s conspiracy theories and mischaracterizations and is continuing to defend the men and women of the FBI and to accept the IG report.

Q: I suspect the use of FISA to surveil the Trump campaign is going to be a tense issue in the hearing this morning. Do you think Republicans are moving in the direction of reform of warrantless surveillance or is this going to be political theater today?

Senator Coons: If this were a coherent leadership approach, they would take some of the issues and concerns raised in the report, and as FBI Director Wray has done, embrace them, and then talk about responding to them and making sure that we continue to hold federal law enforcement to the highest possible standards going forward. Instead, I am concerned we will be treated to more political theater. We have seen some of this tension on other matters and in other committees. You mentioned earlier in the show in this section that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo actually publicly challenged Russia’s interference in our last election. At the same time that the Department of Justice IG’s report is being reviewed by the Judiciary Committee this morning, the Foreign Relations Committee is taking up a number of bipartisan bills. This week and next week, we will be taking up sanctions against Russia and sanctions against Turkey. I think it is encouraging to see some bipartisanship here in the Senate. Today, however, at the Department of Justice inspector general’s oversight hearing, I don’t expect that, I think we will just see more political theater.

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Nemours supports Sen. Coons’ bipartisan bill prioritizing children’s health care research

WASHINGTON – Following sharp reductions in pediatric medical researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduced bipartisan legislation to increase pediatric-focused research at the NIH by addressing challenges in researcher recruitment and retention and by creating a pipeline of early-career pediatric researchers.

“I applaud Senator Coons and Senator Ernst for their bipartisan leadership in introducing a bill that includes critical provisions needed to support the development of the next generation of pediatric researchers,” said Larry Moss, MD, president and CEO of Nemours Children’s Health System. “Supporting early career investigators is a key priority for the research community, and this bill is an important step forward.”

“I am proud to support investments in pediatric scientists and research that will help reduce the suffering experienced by our nation’s children,” said Senator Coons. “By bolstering the pediatric-scientist workforce, we are creating opportunities for scientific advancements that will not only improve the health and livelihood of kids across the country but also reduce the burden of disease faced by Americans in later-life.”

In addition to Coons and Ernst, the legislation is cosponsored by Senators Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

Background:

In the past several years, pediatric research slots have seen sharp reductions within the NIH. This includes reductions of Child Health Research Center Awards, which supports fewer than half of the young investigators that it did in 2010. The Pediatric Scientist Development Program has also seen cuts, having been reduced from supporting 17 training slots per institution down to 10 per institution. These reductions contrast with the consistent increases Congress has provided to the overall NIH budget.

The Pediatricians Accelerate Childhood Therapies (PACT) Act would establish an NIH-wide grant to support early-career pediatric researchers. The bill also directs the NIH Pediatric Research Consortium to set priorities, improve coordination and collaboration, and identify gaps and opportunities to support the development of new treatments and cures for diseases and conditions that affect children in Iowa, and across the country.

This legislation is supported by the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, Blank Children’s Hospital, MercyOne Children’s Hospital, ChildServe, the Children’s Hospital Association, and the Coalition for Pediatric Medical Research.

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Sen. Coons’ bipartisan deal, backed by Sen. Carper, to permanently fund DSU and other HBCUs, headed to the President’s desk to become law

WASHINGTON – Late yesterday, both chambers of Congress passed the bipartisan agreement brokered by U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and several leading Republican and Democratic Senators, also supported by Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), to make permanent $255 million in annual funding for historically black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions like Delaware State University. The legislation will also simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, for 20 million American families, and streamline income-driven repayment for nearly 8 million borrowers. Funding for the institutions had lapsed on September 30. The bill is now headed to the President’s desk for signature.

“This is a historic day for Delaware State University and HBCUs across the country, which have played a critical role in helping to ensure that every Delawarean and every American is able to access higher education,” Senator Coons said. “HBCUs like Delaware State are among our nation’s most important and cherished institutions, and I’m proud that we were able to reach a bipartisan agreement to permanently provide them with the federal funding they deserve.”

Senator Coons added: “This bill doesn’t only support DSU and HBCUs – it will also simplify the federal student aid process so that millions of American students can access the federal student aid available to them.”

“I’m pleased that this bipartisan agreement is now one step closer to being signed into law. It will bring permanent federal funding to Delaware State University and other HBCUs across the country and enable these universities to focus on what they do best: educating our students in the classroom and preparing them for lasting careers in today’s workforce,” said Senator Carper. “In Delaware, we know that the money provided through the Higher Education Act is a smart investment that will bolster our workforce and our economy. Last month, I visited Delaware State University and heard directly from students and faculty members about how important this federal funding is to the university’s success. I want to thank my colleagues Senators Murray and Alexander, as well as Senators Jones, Coons, Scott and Burr, and members of their staffs, for working in good faith to reach a bipartisan agreement that provides our HBCUs and students with the funding they deserve.”

Senators Carper and Coons have been outspoken in their support of funding for Delaware State University and HBCUs. Last month, Carper and Coons joined 34 of their colleagues in letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to call for immediate passage of the FUTURE Act reauthorization bill. They each spoke out on the Senate floor late last month urging Senators on both sides of the aisle to support this critical, permanent funding extension. In October, Carper hosted a roundtable at DSU to discuss critical funding for HBCUs and urged Congress to immediately extend funding.

Background on the legislation:

Permanently reauthorizes and provides $255 million in annual mandatory funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other Minority Serving Institutions

Is fully paid for by including the FAFSA Act which passed the Senate unanimously last year and which:

Allows Providing Tax Information only Once—Students do not have to give their tax information to the federal government twice

Eliminates up to 22 Questions—Students give permission to the Department of Education to request tax return data already given to the Internal Revenue Service, which reduces the 108 questions on the FAFSA by up to 22 questions

Eliminates Verification Nightmare—For most students, eliminates so-called “verification” which is a bureaucratic nightmare that 5.5 million students go through annually to make sure the information they gave to the Department of Education is exactly the same as they gave to the IRS

Eliminates $6 Billion in Mistakes—According to the Department of Education, helps taxpayers by eliminating up to $6 billion each year in mistakes (both overpayments and underpayments) in Pell grants and student loans

Enables 7 million applicants who are currently unable to access their IRS data for their FAFSA to verify that they do not file taxes without requesting separate documentation from the IRS

Streamlines student loan repayment by eliminating burdensome annual paperwork for 7.7 million federal student loan borrowers on income-driven plans

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the FAFSA Act saves taxpayers $2.8 billion over ten years which will be used to pay for the permanent funding for HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions.

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Sens. Coons, Tillis introduce resolution to honor Human Rights Day

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), co-chairs of the Senate Human Rights Caucus, introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate to recognize the 71^st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the celebration of Human Rights Day.

“On this day in 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first comprehensive agreement among countries regarding the specific rights and freedoms of all human beings. As co-chairs of the Senate Human Rights Caucus, we are proud to introduce a bipartisan resolution commemorating the 71st anniversary of this important Declaration and designating December 10 as Human Rights Day,” said the Senators. “The values espoused in the Declaration reflect America’s own founding documents, and they are integral to U.S. efforts to defend and promote the rights and freedoms of all people around the world. We applaud the work of human rights defenders and commit to supporting them today and in the years to come.”

The text of the resolution is available here.

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WDEL story on Sen. Coons: ‘trying to stop drug diversions in the US’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In case you missed it, WDEL filed a story today about U.S. Senator Chris Coons’ (D-Del.) bipartisan bill, the Suspicious Order Identification Act of 2019, that would prevent diversion of large drug shipments in real time before it has the ability to inflict damage in our communities.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is the only federal entity that can track suspicious orders of opioids, but under the current system, by the time the DEA flags one, it’s too late, and oftentimes, drugs have been diverted to the streets. This lack of real time tracking capability makes it far too easy for dealers to get their hands on opioids that they should not have access to.

“When you order a pizza or buy something on Amazon, you can follow your shipment in real time, so there’s no reason the DEA and industry shouldn’t be able to track massive shipments of dangerous opioids,” said Senator Coons. “This is a commonsense, bipartisan bill that would help ensure that the DEA is able to track large shipments of opioids and keep our communities safe.”

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Senator Coons, Delaware State Chamber of Commerce to host 9th Annual Taste of Delaware

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce will bring food and drink from the First State to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for the 9th Annual Taste of Delaware. The annual event, held in the Kennedy Caucus Room of the Russell Senate Office Building, will take place on Wednesday, December 11, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.

“This event is a celebration of the talented and passionate restauranteurs, chefs, bakers, distillers, and brewers who make Delaware truly unique,” said Senator Coons. “As the honorary host for the 9th Annual Taste of Delaware, I’m excited to be working with the State Chamber again to showcase the state of Delaware on Capitol Hill.”

The Taste of Delaware commemorates the anniversary of Delaware ratifying the Constitution in 1787 and will showcase some of the state’s best flavors from more than 20 food and beverage vendors such as The Starboard, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Mispillion River Brewing, Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, SoDel Concepts, Home Grown Café, Brick Works, Kee’s Cookies & Cupcakes, and UDairy Creamery.

The event is free and open to the public. To RSVP, click HERE.

MEDIA AVAILABILITY

WHO: U.S. Senator Chris Coons, Delaware State Chamber of Commerce

WHAT: 9th Annual Taste of Delaware

WHEN: Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019

WHERE: Kennedy Caucus Room

Russell Senate Office Building

CONTACT: Brendan Mackie (Coons) at 302.468.0545 or Kelly Basile (DSCC) at 302.576.6564

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Sen. Coons, Rep. Johnson honor Dr. Christine Darden, ‘Hidden Figures’ inspiration, in the Capitol

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today in the U.S. Capitol, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), and the Sloan Foundation honored Dr. Christine Darden, Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former NASA mathematician, data analyst and aeronautical engineer. Katherine Johnson and her family and the families of Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson were also recognized at the event.

The event celebrated the passage of bipartisan legislation, introduced by Senator Coons and Representative Johnson, along with U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and U.S. Representative Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), that will award Congressional Gold Medals to Katherine Johnson and Dr. Christine Darden and posthumously award Congressional Gold Medals to Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson. The bill will also award a fifth Congressional Gold Medal to honor all women who contributed to NASA during the Space Race.

“I’m thrilled that we had the opportunity to honor Dr. Christine Darden, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and all the women who contributed to NASA during the Space Race in the Capitol today,” said Senator Coons. “Their accomplishments have had a tremendous impact on the United States’ role as the world leader in science and technological innovation and are an inspiration for women, especially women of color, in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.”

“Since the book was published, the phrase ‘hidden figures’ has taken on a life of its own,” said Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, Chairwoman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. “Society is discovering the legacies of ‘hidden figures’ across all fields of work. National recognition of Katherine Johnson, Christine Darden, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and the hundreds of other women mathematicians and engineers working at NASA, of their contributions to the space program, and their inspiring legacies is long overdue.”

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Senator Coons’ statement on the DOJ Inspector General report on the Russia probe

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement on the release of the Justice Department’s Inspector General (IG) report on certain actions taken during the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“After an exhaustive investigation, the DOJ Inspector General’s report makes clear that this was a legitimate investigation into Russian interference, not some conspiracy to get the President. Based on the unanimous conclusion of our intelligence community, we know that Russia engaged in an unprecedented attack on our elections – hacking into computers, strategically releasing stolen materials, and conducting a massive disinformation campaign to sow division in American society and to help the Trump campaign.

“It was the FBI’s job to investigate. Far from a ‘hoax’ or a ‘witch hunt,’ the Special Counsel investigation produced 37 indictments, guilty pleas, and convictions, including from President Trump’s campaign manager, his national security advisor, and his personal attorney. This was a legitimate, warranted investigation into serious wrongdoing.

“I am glad that the IG report found no evidence of political bias or improper motivation in opening the investigation into Russian interference. That said, we must hold our law enforcement to the highest standards. I appreciate the FBI’s full cooperation with the investigation and Director Wray’s prompt action to address the errors that the Inspector General identified, promote accountability, and implement the IG’s recommendations. As the FBI moves forward in implementing these changes, we as a nation should not be distracted from the threat of foreign interference in our elections. We must confront these ongoing attacks on a bipartisan basis, and it is my hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join me in doing just that.”

Sens. Coons, Harris, colleagues call for Stephen Miller to be fired

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) joined U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and other Senate Democrats in a letter addressed to President Donald J. Trump, demanding the immediate removal of Stephen Miller from his position as a White House senior adviser.

The letter follows recent reports detailing over 900 e-mails, sent from Mr. Miller to far-right Breitbart News between 2015 and 2016, which confirm that Mr. Miller worked to advance white supremacist, anti-immigrant ideologies. In the letter, the senators connect the e-mails to specific immigration policies Mr. Miller has implemented in his current position.

In addition to Coons and Harris, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Jack Reed (D-RI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Gary Peters (D-MI), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) signed the letter.

“Mr. Miller’s demonstrable white nationalist ideology has directly translated into your administration’s policies, which have been widely criticized for systematically targeting communities of color,” wrote the senators. “The Muslim ban targeted individuals of color and caused chaos at U.S. airports around the country, wreaking havoc on the lives of countless individuals and families. The family separation policy tore children from their families, resulting in widely reported mistreatment and human rights abuses of immigrants in detention facilities nationwide.”

The senators continued, “When someone takes an oath to work in the White House and earn a taxpayer-funded salary, they work for the people, not a divisive, harmful, and hateful ideology. These e-mails clearly show what is driving Mr. Miller. It’s not national security, it’s white supremacy—something that has no place in our country, federal government, and especially not the White House. Mr. Miller’s views go against everything we stand for as a country. They are unacceptable and unjust. Simply put, Mr. Miller is unfit to serve in any capacity at the White House, let alone as a senior policy adviser. We demand that you remove Stephen Miller immediately.”

The letter has the support of Southern Poverty Law Center, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Bend The Arc, Immigration Hub, National Immigrant Justice Center, Center for American Progress, and Families Belong Together.

The full text of the letter is available here and below:

December 9, 2019

President Donald J. Trump

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We write to demand the immediate removal of Stephen Miller as your advisor. Recent reports confirm that he advanced white nationalist, anti-immigrant ideologies. Continuing to employ him as the senior architect of your immigration policies ensures that those policies discriminate against individuals of color to advance white nationalist ideals. He must be removed.

According to over 900 recently published e-mails dated March 4, 2015 to June 27, 2016, Mr. Miller, who was an aide to Senator Jeff Sessions at the time, actively pressured editors and writers at far-right website, Breitbart, to publish white nationalist articles.1 He drew his source material from known far-right websites peddling conspiracy theories, including VDARE and Infowars. When Pope Francis called for the United States to welcome immigrants, Mr. Miller proposed a story on “The Camp of the Saints,” an overwhelmingly racist “white genocide”-themed novel detailing an immigrant invasion designed to wipe out the white race. The book dehumanizes immigrants by, among other things, painting them as physically grotesque. It is simply appalling that a senior advisor to the President advanced parallels between this book and contemporary events.

Alarmingly, this was not an isolated incident. Rather, it is just one of myriad highly disturbing communications. After a white nationalist killed nine African-Americans during Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Mr. Miller sought to protect Confederate iconography by targeting online shopping platforms that stopped selling Confederate flags. His e-mails regularly utilized verbiage commonly associated with the white nationalist movement, including the phrases “great replacement” and “new America.”

Mr. Miller’s demonstrable white nationalist ideology has been directly translated into your administration’s policies, which have been widely criticized for systematically targeting communities of color. The Muslim ban targeted individuals of color and caused chaos at U.S. airports around the country, wreaking havoc on the lives of countless individuals and families. The family separation policy tore children from their families, resulting in widely reported mistreatment and human rights abuses of immigrants in detention facilities nationwide. The rescission of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has thrown the lives of hundreds of thousands of DREAMers into chaos and instability. Mr. Miller has also reportedly advanced your administration’s efforts to slash refugee admissions, limit asylum access for vulnerable populations, prevent extensions of Temporary Protected Status to those granted safety from humanitarian crises abroad, and disqualify immigrants who use public resources from receiving certain immigration benefits. Each and every one of these policies has a disproportionate adverse impact on communities of color and our country. Each and every one of them aligns with the white nationalist ideals espoused by Mr. Miller in his e-mails.

Words matter. They can divide or bring people together and sow hope or hate. On August 3, 2019, a shooter opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 individuals in one of the deadliest hate crimes against Latinos in U.S. history. The shooter left behind a manifesto specifically citing anti-Hispanic and anti-immigrant sentiments as the reasons he opened fire that day. This was just one of an alarmingly high number of recent hate crimes throughout our country.

When someone takes an oath to work in the White House and earns a taxpayer-funded salary, they work for the people, not to advance a divisive, harmful, and hateful ideology. These e-mails clearly show what is driving Mr. Miller. It’s not national security, it’s white supremacy—something that has no place in our country, federal government, and especially not the White House. Mr. Miller’s views go against everything we stand for as a country. They are unacceptable and unjust. Simply put, Mr. Miller is unfit to serve in any capacity at the White House, let alone as a senior policy adviser. We demand that you remove Stephen Miller immediately.

Sincerely,

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