Additional Funding for SCAAP Program Incentivizes Dangerous Police/ICE Collaboration

05.09.2013 – Washington, DC
In response to Senate Judiciary Committee passage of the Feinstein 1 amendment, Chris Newman, Legal Director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network issued the following statement:

Senator Feinstein made the immigration bill worse today, putting both rights and safety in jeopardy.   The Feinstein 1 amendment  approved by committee is straight from the pages of Arizona’s playbook. Feinstein 1 increases federal funding for the SCAAP program which threatens public safety by encouraging local police involvement in immigration enforcement. 

As long emphasized by police chiefs and recently confirmed by a survey of Latinos in some of the nation’s largest cities, police enforcement of immigration law makes immigrants less likely to call police, leaving crimes unsolved and everyone less safe. By increasing the financial incentive for state and local police to collaborate with ICE, this amendment throws gasoline on a fire and exacerbates the current crisis of confidence in law enforcement.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Post comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.