Scott Presler, the man who launched the clean up American cities movement last summer after President Donald Trump spotlighted the blight in Democrat-controlled Baltimore, continued his work over the weekend helping tornado victims in Tennessee. But he also told Breitbart News that in cities across the country, it is illegal immigrants getting benefits while homeless Americans are living on the streets.
Presler told Breitbart News that he felt compelled to use his large network of volunteers to lend a hand in the cleanup effort in Tennessee following a tornado that devastated parts of the state and killed at least 25 people.
“We had over 100 volunteers. The majority were from Nashville, but some even came from Knoxville, Tennessee. One drove ten hours from Dallas in her car, and some even came from Atlanta, Georgia,” Presler told Breitbart News.
“We filled half of a truck full of items that we donated to a Baptist church including things like water or non-perishable food hygiene products, baby wipes,” Presler said. “And then after we were done donating the items, we sent out teams of volunteers to help clean up debris.”
The real heroes, in addition to the volunteers, were Jami & her amazing team,
who donated 100 meals!
Make sure to follow @TNCobblerCo & support these good-hearted people. #NashvilleStrong pic.twitter.com/ztiAm20K1i
— #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) March 9, 2020
But what has struck Presler over the course of his mission is how illegal immigrants are being prioritized in U.S. cities while Americans are living on the streets.
Presler spoke about this issue recently at the 2020 CPAC convention in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
“Besides picking up trash, your heart is drawn to homeless people,” Breitbart News said in the interview. “And you don’t just pick up trash around them, but you like to engage with them. Why do you want to do that?”
“I want to give them hope,” Presler said. “These are cities that I’m going to that have been neglected for decades where these people truly are hopeless.”
“And so I want to go in there as just a shot of energy — a shot of this ‘can do’ attitude and ‘can do’ spirit,” Presler said.
He said he met a young man living on the streets of San Francisco who had a daughter and a job, ironically, picking up trash, but lived in a tent on the streets. Presler asked him how he felt about illegal immigrants getting benefits.
“And he said, ‘I’m angry.’ He said, ‘What about us? We should have priority. We were here first.’”
“So, in dealing with the homeless community, especially, I’m not only really careful to respect their humanity because they are — they’re human beings,” Presler said, “but I want to change the stigma because so many people think the homeless community are lazy, which is wrong.”
Presler said he met a man in Los Angeles who worked in the movie business but still lived on the streets.
“These are people that either they [face] hard times or they can’t afford housing, but these are smart, intellectual people, and I just think it’s wrong that illegal immigrants come first but we don’t take care of our people,” Presler said.
Presler plans more cleanups on March 14 in Pittsburgh and in Philadelphia on April 4. His crew will visit Detroit on May 2, and he also hopes to host a cleanup during the Democrat nominating conference in July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Follow Penny Starr on Twitter.
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