Latino and Muslim communities stand in solidarity in the face of the rhetoric, policy proposals, harassment, and hate crimes threatening us. As representatives of communities that were repeatedly maligned during this presidential election, we have approached the days since the November 8 election with eyes wide open and the hope that President-elect Trump would take the necessary steps to begin healing our divided nation.

Unfortunately, the signals this president-elect has chosen to send have been disheartening and downright frightful ones. The appointment of Steve Bannon to the position of Chief Strategist to the President, a white nationalist with a history of trafficking in racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-LGBT tropes, signals that as president, Trump will continue to rely on divisive and hurtful rhetoric – rhetoric which has likely caused a rise in hate crimes recently reported by the FBI.

Parents are reporting their young children are afraid to go to school for fear of being bullied and every day seems to bring several new reports of Americans being assaulted because of their skin color, sexual orientation, religion, or race.

President-elect Trump said that he plans to deport between two to three million immigrants in the United States, a number that goes far beyond the limited number of truly dangerous individuals he claims to want to target. The stocking of Trump’s transition team with anti-immigrant figures such as Kris Kobach, the architect of Arizona’s SB1070 and other draconian anti-immigrant measures, as well as U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions and his aides, suggests that we can expect the Trump administration to pursue anti-immigrant measures, such as workplace raids, that would divide families and spread fear among immigrant communities across the U.S.

Trump’s advisors also leave us to understand that a President Trump would follow through on campaign promises to engage in racial and religious profiling – including an unconstitutional “registry” for Muslim immigrants in the U.S.

Today, we remain concerned as to what a Trump presidency will mean for members of our communities but we are comforted in facing that challenge together, in solidarity. We will not allow ourselves to be pitted against each other. Instead, our unity and determination will only strengthen as we continue advocating for policies that enable our communities and all Americans to more fully contribute to the social, political, and economic fabric of this nation.

Our life’s work is advocacy and we will promise to continue using the tools given to us by the Constitution in defense of our communities and all Americans seeking justice and equality under law.

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Muslim Advocates is a national legal advocacy and educational organization working on the frontlines of civil rights to guarantee freedom and justice for Americans of all faiths. Through high impact lawsuits, policy advocacy, and community education, Muslim Advocates serves as a resource to empower communities and ensures that the American Muslim community is heard by the courts and leaders at the highest level of government. Visit Muslim Advocates at http://www.muslimadvocates.org and follow @muslimadvocates.

NHLA is a premier coalition of the nation’s 40 prominent Latino organizations. Collectively, NHLA leads the advocacy behind the pressing civil rights and policy issues impacting the 58 million Latinos living in the United States.  NHLA strives to increase Latino visibility and leverages its efforts to build a stronger Latino influence in our country’s affairs. https://nationalhispanicleadership.org/