FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2017
Contact: Kemi Bello, kbello@ilrc.org
House Republicans Introduce Bill to Fuel Trump’s “Deport Them All” Agenda
H.R. 2431 Aims to Strip Immigrants, Refugees and Asylees of Already Limited Legal Protections
Introduced yesterday by Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Vice Chairman Raúl Labrador (R-ID) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), H.R. 2431, also known as the Michael Davis, Jr. and Danny Oliver in Honor of State and Local Law Enforcement Act, is headed for markup in the House Judiciary Committee today.
Mizue Aizeki (Immigrant Defense Project), Angie Junck (Immigrant Legal Resource Center), and Paromita Shah (National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild) released the following statement on behalf of the Immigrant Justice Network:
“We are deeply disturbed by the willingness of the House Republicans to try any means, even breaking the law and turning a blind eye to the U.S. Constitution, to rip apart immigrant families and permanently banish as many as possible from the country that they have come to call home.”
“As if President Trump’s blatant attacks over the past 100+ days on the immigrant, refugee and asylee communities have not been enough, H.R. 2431 takes dramatically unnecessary and potentially unlawful steps to deprive those not born in the U.S. of fundamental legal protections in our justice system.”
“We urge Congress to reject this and any other legislation steeped in racism and exclusion, particularly in this un-American climate that seeks to vilify immigrants in justification of their permanent removal from the United States.”
“Rather than ramp up an already massive and abuse-ridden detention and deportation system, Congress must instead reform the 1996 immigration laws and move our justice system away from the troubling precedent that has normalized stripping immigrants of their rightful opportunity to have a fair day in court.”
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About the Immigrant Justice Network
The Immigrant Justice Network is a collaboration between the Immigrant Defense Project, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyer’s Guild and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. The Immigrant Justice Network fights for the human rights of all immigrants. We work with our partners towards a vision of communities that are healthy and thriving, not torn apart by unfair and discriminatory policing, incarceration, and deportation. http://immigrantjusticenetwork.org/