Law Enforcement, Religious & Immigrant Organizations to House GOP: #DonaldTrumpAct Will Have 'Negative Impact'
As Speaker Boehner and House Republicans move to vote on ‘the Donald Trump Act,' law enforcement, immigrant rights, and religious groups from across the country send their message:
Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force:
[The bill] poses real danger to existing relationships between immigrant communities and state and local law enforcement. When state and local law enforcement agencies are required to enforce federal immigration laws, undocumented residents may fear that they, or people they know or depend upon, risk deportation by working with law enforcement. This fear undermines the trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, creating too much room for dangerous criminals and violent crime.
Major County Sheriffs' Association:
We strongly feel a law enforcement grant penalty solution would not only negatively impact law enforcement efforts across the country, but also not achieve its intended purpose…We respectfully request that Members of Congress contact their state and local law enforcement representatives to understand the adverse impact law enforcement grant penalties would have on their respective constituencies.
I am writing on behalf of the members of the Fraternal Order of Police to advise you of our strong opposition to any amendment or piece of legislation that would penalize law enforcement agencies by withholding federal funding or resources from law enforcement assistance programs in an effort to coerce a policy change in so-called "sanctuary cities.'…It is critical to public safety and national security that local, state, federal and tribal law enforcement work together…This cannot be achieved if the Federal government is reducing the resources available to local law enforcement nor will it aid in cooperative efforts to address threats of public safety.
We implore all Members of Congress to not allow the politicization of this tragedy to punish entire communities for the actions of one individual. The faith community has a responsibility to defend individuals who are marginalized by society as we work for the common good of all. It is a moral outrage to see sensationalism shaping new forms of stereotypes and discrimination against immigrants.
We urge all Members of Congress to oppose legislation that would further criminalize undocumented immigrants or infringe on the rights of states, cities, localities and police departments to regulate how they interact with ICE.
United States Conference of Mayors/National League of Cities:
We believe that decisions related to how law enforcement agencies prioritize their resources, direct their workforce, and define the duties of their employees must reside with local government leadership. This includes defining the role of local police officers in the context of enforcing federal immigration laws…We urge you not to take precipitous action that will have a negative impact on law enforcement agencies and public safety across the nation.
…cities are trying to do what is best and safest for all of their residents in the long run. Rather than use "sanctuary city" as both a catch-all and a scapegoat, Congress should make a good-faith effort to clarify immigration enforcement responsibilities. Rather than a political firestorm in the wake of a tragedy, we need cooperation that demonizes no one and at the same time makes all of us safer.
National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of 39 leading national Latino nonpartisan civil rights and advocacy organizations:
We write…to strongly urge you to vote against H.R. 3009.
It is unacceptable when a presidential contender such as Donald Trump makes such generalizations in campaigning and equally unacceptable when Members of Congress do so in legislating. No responsible public official should use this tragedy as a pretext for harsh and unproductive policies that only serve to satisfy the anti-immigrant impulses.
Civil Rights, Immigrant Rights, Victims' Services, and Human Rights Organizations to Republicans:
We…write to express our strong opposition to any legislation that would seek to undermine state and local law enforcement's efforts to build and restore community trust.
The dialogue surrounding this tragic event only fosters stereotypes and misinformation about the immigrant community. To be clear – the immigration system is broken and needs reform. But moving forward with reactionary and sweeping legislation on one facet of the system doesn't solve the problem. The real solution to our immigration challenges is broad and humane immigration reform which would place undocumented immigrants on a workable and earned path to citizenship, thereby allowing them to contribute even more to their families, communities, and our country.
Alliance for Citizenship and 140 national, state, and local advocacy organizations:
On behalf of the undersigned 144 national, state, and local advocacy organizations, we write to express our strong opposition to the "Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act" (H.R. 3009)…The bill scapegoats all immigrants based on the acts of one person; public policy should not be made based on a single tragic event or by using the actions of one individual to justify a policy that criminalizes an entire community. We urge the House to refrain from imposing knee-jerk immigration policy changes based on the alleged actions of one person. The sweeping language in H.R. 3009 would penalize the exercise of any local police discretion to limit inquiries into immigration status in any manner, and would strip funding from localities that undertake the balancing of public safety considerations.
The Republican Donald Trump Caucus once again is threatening the safety of American communities. They're taking another opportunity to prove the appalling depths of their contempt for hard-working Latino and immigrant families rather than joining Democrats calling for a commonsense fix to our broken immigration system.