Donald Trump 2016 Presidential News: Immigrant Advocates to Protest Trump at Oklahoma City Event
An immigration advocacy group in Oklahoma City is planning to boycott the upcoming state fair visit of leading 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
"Our biggest concern is that we hope this visit does not reignite or spark any anti-Muslim sentiment," Adam Soltani, executive director of CAIR Oklahoma Adam Soltani told KFOR TV. "Anyone who wants to be president of the United States of America, hold the highest office in our country should really reflect the diversity that our country so much values."
Soltani and his group is not the only one planning to voice their opposition to what they believe Trump stands for. An anti-Trump rally, led by Latino immigrants, is also planned mark his Friday arrival.
Dream Act Oklahoma organizer Jessica Vazquez added, "Donald Trump has painted us in this image -- we're rapists, we're murderers, we're violent. That's not who we are, that's not who my community is, and we want to let that be known."
Dream Act demonstrators are slated to commence gathering outside the fairgrounds around 4 p.m., nearly two hours before Trump's scheduled visit. Group members insist one of their primary focusses is to "put a face" on the issue of illegal immigration.
Group leaders add Trump's "hateful rhetoric" only makes that job more difficult by feeding a hostile environment toward Latinos, immigrants and people of color.
"He has painted our community in a bad light, and we strongly feel he is not representative of our state," group leaders added in a statement.
Trump has consistently drawn criticism for some of his fiery rhetoric, including a speech he gave earlier this year to mark the formal launch of his campaign where he charged the U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else's problems.
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," he added. "They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists."
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