For Immediate Release // Excuse Cross-posting // Please Forward
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Date: January 20, 2015
Contact: SG Sarmiento, NDLON, 202-746-2099, sgsarmiento@ndlon.org
President Urged to Address Role of DHS & Immigration Enforcement in Police Abuse
Los Angeles, CA—Ahead of the President’s second to last State of the Union address, the Executive Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), Pablo Alvarado, issued the following statement:
“We expect the topic of immigrants’ rights to factor into the President’s remarks about biased policing. Neither the progress made last year for some immigrants nor the partisan attacks against all immigrants in Congress this year should prevent the President from taking steps to undo the damage caused by his ill-conceived deportation policy, which hyper-modernized the enforcement of outdated and unjust immigration laws.
“Day laborers across the country know firsthand the impunity that exists for some law enforcement agents who engage in racial profiling, harassment, and civil rights violations. And while we certainly appreciated DHS Secretary Johnson’s acknowledgement that Se Communities caused civil rights violations and eroded confidence in law enforcement, insufficient progress has been made. Indeed, the President’s own ‘felons not families’ rhetoric has masked the administration’s own involvement in the unprecedented felonization of immigrant families.
“DHS programs that entangle local police into the country’s draconian deportation machinery must be part of the national conversation about police reform, public safety, and equal rights. It is unconscionable that DHS continues to harbor rogue agencies, even as it empowers abusive local law enforcement agencies to engage in biased policing. We call on the President to include immigrant voices in the White House’s Policing Task Force Initiative.”
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