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A message from League of United Latin American Citizens

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View as web page:
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Contact: David Cruz | 818-689-9991 | [email protected]



LULAC Filing Legal Action To Stop ICE Seizing Detainees’ DNA
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Nation’s Oldest & Largest Latino Civil Rights Organization Forming Social Justice
Coalition for Federal Lawsuit
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Washington, DC – The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) announced
today it is forming a coalition with other legal defense organizations to take
action in federal court against Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) from
collecting DNA samples of tens of thousands of detainees in its custody.

“This is a violation of one of the most fundamental civil and human rights under
our Constitution and international law,” said Domingo Garcia, LULAC National
President. “There is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty and in the
United States, there are also protections against self-incrimination and the
right to legal representation, even when an individual is first being questioned
on suspicion of committing a crime. Yet here, ICE is doing just the opposite. ICE
is conducting one of the most invasive acts en masse by a law enforcement agency
on U.S. soil we have ever witnessed. Moreover, it is doing so without any basis
for subjecting men, women and children to this despicable and dehumanizing
violation of their body and privacy. The potential for abuse of DNA and refugees
has a solid history in America,” he said.

Officials with Homeland Security are working with the Justice Department to
develop guidelines that will restore legal authority to immigration officials to
extract DNA samples from immigration detainees and match those samples against
the FBI database of previous criminal offenders. At present, there are more than
40,000 individuals being held on suspected immigration violations.

“LULAC and other organizations fought vigorously in 2005 when Congress broadened
law enforcement powers to collect DNA from persons brought into their custody so
that undocumented immigrants were protected from those orders,” says Sindy
Benavides, Chief Executive Officer of LULAC. “The immigrants that this policy
targets is a very specific and vulnerable population, which includes women and
children. Many of them are seeking asylum so they should not be treated as
suspected dangerous criminals. LULAC did not then, and will not now, allow the
wholesale surveillance of immigrants to go unchallenged,” she added.

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About LULAC
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the nation’s largest and
oldest civil rights volunteer-based organization that empowers Hispanic Americans
and builds strong Latino communities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with over
1,000 councils around the United States and Puerto Rico, LULAC’s programs,
services and advocacy address the most important issues for Latinos, meeting
critical needs of today and the future. For more information, visit www.LULAC.org [ [link removed] ]







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