Black Lives Matter Revolution? Founder Says To 'Rise Up' And 'Defend Each Other' After Trump Executive Orders

A Black Lives Matter co-founder said Monday that African-Americans and black immigrants should “rise up” and “defend each other” in response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders aimed at tightening and further enforcing the country’s immigration laws, The Observer reported.

Opal Tometi, who helped start the movement five years ago and also serves as executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), said the two groups are both affected by what she called a racist system, expanding the rights group to include blacks who immigrated to the country.

“Black immigrants and African-Americans share diverse, rich cultures and a lot of beautiful things, but we also share the global fight against a system that operates on racism,” Tometi said during BAJI’s town hall over the phone. “And so right now, this moment, it’s very, very critical that we rise up and we defend each other. We have to fight to ensure that all black lives matter and there are some practical ways we can engage in this work.”

Tometi also pointed out the additional challenges black immigrants face on top of systemic racism that meets them.

“You add that family separation component, the unique language barriers and challenges to just employment, and the fact that black immigrants are far more likely than any other immigrant group to face detention and deportation in our immigration system as a result of criminal contact, the situation is pretty dire,” Tometi added. “It’s been pretty dire and we can see that things are becoming a little bit more acute.”

Her comments came a day before the Trump administration directed the Department of Homeland Security to step up its efforts against immigrants. In memorandums released Tuesday, the department stated it is now implementing Trumps order called “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States” and was applied not only to DHS but also to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The directives told the agencies to target immigrants who have either been charged or convicted of criminal offenses, use local law enforcement as “enforcers,” build new detention centers and step up deportations, The New York Times reported.