Friends,

At the end of this email I’m going to ask you to make a contribution to get our campaign one step closer to creating real change in Washington. Before I do that however, I wanted to take a moment to walk you through one of the moments I decided to run for Congress.

In December 2018, I organized with some veteran friends to travel to the San Ysidro-Tijuana border amidst Trump sending the military to police the border, putting a stop to processing asylum cases, and separating children from parents. We wanted to advocate for immigration justice and worked with La Otra Lado to provide aid to asylum seekers (medical, food, clothing, etc.).

After being there for approximately a week, I witnessed how the majority of asylum seekers were mothers and children who were escaping government persecution, poverty, domestic & gang violence.

My opponent, Gregory Meeks wasn’t supporting to impeach Trump at the time but was constantly talking about the injustice at the border. I asked him on social media if he would take a stronger stance considering he sits on the foreign affairs committee and he represents a district that has a lot of immigrants being targeted by ICE. 

During this exchange, I told him how I went down to the border and offered these basic three proposals based on my experiences.

• Ensure human rights were not being violated by ICE and CBP.

• Help guarantee every asylum seeker will receive proper medical attention.

• Expedite all asylum cases.

The only recourse Rep. Meeks could provide is that our country needs to do is to provide more bed spaces for asylum seekers in the detention centers.

Friend, this is absolutely unacceptable. In that moment, I understood then what I understand now. Rep. Meeks is out of touch with the severity of the injustice being committed and, by refusing to show any competent leadership, is enabling the atrocities at the border.

Let’s be crystal clear. ICE functions beyond the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice and has been taking people from spaces we consider to be safe in American public life—schools, courts, and even people’s homes.  They have operated with impunity, under the cover of privately run facilities, separating children from their families with no record or plan for reuniting them and keeping children isolated in cages. Today thousands of people are still imprisoned in these facilities, with no plans to be processed or released.

I took what Rep. Meeks said personally and that was one of the many reasons that I decided to run. 

I can not express to you how important it is that we defeat Meeks on June 23rd, 2020 and give Southeast Queens and Nassau county the representation it deserves.

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My work does not end on election day, it begins. 

In Solidarity,

Shaniyat.