Stop Hijacking Tragedy. We are Not Your Scapegoat
Honorable Senator Dianne Feinstein,
We, the undersigned members of the community write very concerned that your statements and plan to introduce legislation which would require cities to submit to unconstitutional deportation practices by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fuel anti-immigrant hysteria and threaten the safety and wellbeing of our communities.
What you are proposing will cause irreparable harm to our families and community.
Our hearts go out to the Steinle family for their loss. Victims of tragedy should have the space to mourn without their sorrow being turned into a political circus. It is unacceptable that Democrats and Republicans are joining with Donald Trump to use this isolated incident to attempt to rollback civil and human rights progress achieved through years of advocacy against racial profiling and ICE’s conscription of police as force multipliers for unjust deportations.
It’s been proven time and again that we are put in danger when police are tied to immigration laws or collude with immigration authorities. ICE tangling law enforcement in its deportation pursuits makes us less safe. In addition, the notion that immigration enforcement should be using this country’s criminal justice system to determine who should be deported ignores the racist and violent patterns in it that the #BlackLivesMatter movement has exposed.
As a member of the Judiciary Committee you can play a critical role in ensuring that all of our constitutional rights are upheld and that immigrant communities are not used as scapegoats or political fodder.
We ask that you stop efforts to mandate the collusion of local law enforcement and ICE. It will further harm the relationship between local police and immigrant communities and only increase criminalization and detention.
Thank you
[Signatures]
Honorable Senator Barbara Boxer,
We, the undersigned members of the community write very concerned that your statements and plan to introduce legislation which would require cities to submit to unconstitutional deportation practices by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fuel anti-immigrant hysteria and threaten the safety and wellbeing of our communities.
What you are proposing will cause irreparable harm to our families and community.
Our hearts go out to the Steinle family for their loss. Victims of tragedy should have the space to mourn without their sorrow being turned into a political circus. It is unacceptable that Democrats and Republicans are joining with Donald Trump to use this isolated incident to attempt to rollback civil and human rights progress achieved through years of advocacy against racial profiling and ICE’s conscription of police as force multipliers for unjust deportations.
It’s been proven time and again that we are put in danger when police are tied to immigration laws or collude with immigration authorities. ICE tangling law enforcement in its deportation pursuits makes us less safe. In addition, the notion that immigration enforcement should be using this country’s criminal justice system to determine who should be deported ignores the racist and violent patterns in it that the #BlackLivesMatter movement has exposed.
You can play a critical role in ensuring that all of our constitutional rights are upheld and that immigrant communities are not used as scapegoats or political fodder.
We ask that you stop efforts to mandate the collusion of local law enforcement and ICE. It will further harm the relationship between local police and immigrant communities and only increase criminalization and detention.
Thank you
[Signatures]
Honorable Congresswoman Jackie Speier,
We, the undersigned members of the community write very concerned that your statements and plan to introduce legislation which would require cities to submit to unconstitutional deportation practices by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fuel anti-immigrant hysteria and threaten the safety and wellbeing of our communities.
What you are proposing will cause irreparable harm to our families and community.
Our hearts go out to the Steinle family for their loss. Victims of tragedy should have the space to mourn without their sorrow being turned into a political circus. It is unacceptable that Democrats and Republicans are joining with Donald Trump to use this isolated incident to attempt to rollback civil and human rights progress achieved through years of advocacy against racial profiling and ICE’s conscription of police as force multipliers for unjust deportations.
It’s been proven time and again that we are put in danger when police are tied to immigration laws or collude with immigration authorities. ICE tangling law enforcement in its deportation pursuits makes us less safe. In addition, the notion that immigration enforcement should be using this country’s criminal justice system to determine who should be deported ignores the racist and violent patterns in it that the #BlackLivesMatter movement has exposed.
You can play a critical role in ensuring that all of our constitutional rights are upheld and that immigrant communities are not used as scapegoats or political fodder.
We ask that you stop efforts to mandate the collusion of local law enforcement and ICE. It will further harm the relationship between local police and immigrant communities and only increase criminalization and detention.
Thank you
[Signatures]
References:
The Scapegoating of Sanctuary Cities – City Labs
Mixing Deportation & Criminal Justice Systems Makes Us Less Safe – San Francisco Chronicle
Join the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, and the #Not1More campaign to tell Senator Feinstein, Senator Boxer and Representative Speier to stop fueling the criminalization and incarceration of immigrant families.
