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Stand Up for Justice: Reject the Harmful and Criminalizing Laken Riley Act |
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Dear John, NNIRR strongly urges all community members to take immediate action by calling their Senators and demanding they VOTE NO ON CLOTURE for S.5, a harmful immigration bill that expands mandatory detention for migrants charged with crimes but not convicted, and increases the power of figures like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to target immigrants and dismantle protections like DACA. The cloture vote on Laken Riley at 10 am tomorrow. Top Targets (Cornyn, Dems, Yes Votes): Baldwin, Bennet, Blumenthal, Cantwell, Coons, CCM, Fetterman, Gallego, Hassan, Heinrich, Hickenlooper, Kelly, Klobuchar, Lujan, Ossoff, Peters, Rosen, Shaheen, Slotkin, Warner, Warnock. Please find their staffer contacts here. The Senate’s failure to support amendments that would have removed dangerous provisions, such as the one proposed by Senator Coons, highlights the GOP's shift toward extreme policies focused on mass deportation, rather than fixing an outdated and dysfunctional immigration system. Instead, Senate Republicans adopted Senator Cornyn's amendment, which: - Expands mandatory detention to include individuals charged with serious bodily injury offenses, even if not convicted.
- Exacerbates racial injustice by disproportionately impacting Black and Brown communities, who are more likely to face police stops and arrests in over-policed and neighborhoods, particularly at the border.
- Undermines basic legal protections by removing the opportunity for detained individuals to have their cases individually reviewed by a judge. In the criminal justice system, individuals are typically entitled to bond hearings before being detained, but this bill removes that safeguard for immigrants.
- Is redundant because current immigration laws already give the Department of Homeland Security significant authority to detain individuals for criminal convictions, including minor offenses.
What S.5 Does: - Puts Dreamers at Risk: It mandates the detention of any undocumented immigrant, including Dreamers, who are arrested or charged with any crime, even low-level offenses. This puts DACA recipients, especially those without visa or parole status, in danger of deportation and family separation.
- Empowers Anti-Immigrant AGs: The bill gives state Attorneys General, like Texas' Ken Paxton and Kansas' Kris Kobach, the power to sue to overrule federal immigration decisions, leading to mass detention and destabilizing immigrant communities.
- Creates a Path to Indefinite Detention: S.5 allows for indefinite detention of immigrants arrested for minor offenses, including those often dismissed in court. This provision would disproportionately affect marginalized communities, making people afraid to report crimes or cooperate with law enforcement.
There is still time to act before the final vote, please call your representatives today and tell them to vote NO on the on cloture for S.5. |
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