With Markup of Sen. Vitter Bill on the Horizon, America’s Voice Offers a Fresh Reminder of the Political and Policy Perils Associated with Anti-Community Safety Legislation
The Trump Effect continues to make its mark on Congress. Following a series of GOP-led hearings last week aimed at portraying all immigrants as criminals (a la Donald Trump’s racist remarks), the Senate Judiciary Committee announced plans to markup a new bill (S. 1814) from the notorious anti-immigrant Sen. David Vitter that would harm community policing and prevent the federal government from focusing resources on the worst of the worst.
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, “As Donald Trump continues to demagogue the immigration issue on the campaign trail, so does his party back in Congress. Instead of calling up comprehensive immigration reform, Republicans are rushing to take up proposals that taint all immigrants as criminals. For a party that should be standing up to its nativist wing in order to survive on the national stage, this is yet another mistake in a series of missteps that, taken together, add up to an existential threat to the GOP future. Despite the risks, they just can’t seem to help themselves.
“While Republicans in the Senate seem intent to do the bidding of Trump and the Steve King wing of the GOP House, Senate Democrats have an opportunity to stand up against demagoguery just as their colleagues did in the House.”
See the America’s Voice recap of the House debate here.
Over the past several years, hundreds of localities across the nation, with the support of local law enforcement, police chiefs, and sheriffs, have limited their involvement in federal immigration enforcement out of concerns for vital Fourth Amendment protections and community safety. Policy proposals—much like Senator Vitter’s—“are focused on heavy-handed, enforcement-only approaches despite the fact that studies show that deportation-only policies do not reduce crime rates,” the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the National Immigration Law Center, and United We Dream said in a letter.
Ahead of the upcoming Senate Judiciary markup, America’s Voice has compiled a number of important resources surrounding this topic. See below for a full list of reports, quotes and analysis:
- David Leopold at The Hill: Getting To The Truth About Steinle’s Murder Starts with Asking the Right Questions
- American Immigration Council Reporton How Immigrants are Less Likely to Commit Crimes than Native-Born Americans: The Criminalization of Immigration in the United States
- Cautionary Quotes from City and Enforcement Officialsfrom the States of Senate Judiciary Committee Members: Click Here
- La Opinión Editorial: Sanctuaries and Immigration Reform
- Press Call with Law Enforcement Leader, Legal Experts & Victims’ Advocates on the Importance of Community Safety Policies:Click Here.
