Demos Joins 191 Other Organizations in Opposing Trump’s Mass Deportation Act (H.R. 2431)

Dear Member of the Judiciary Committee:

On behalf of the 192 undersigned national, state, and local religious, civil rights, ethnic, and immigration organizations, we strongly urge you to vote against the Michael Davis, Jr. and Danny Oliver in Honor of State and Local Law Enforcement Act, H.R. 2431 (Trump Mass Deportation Act), previously known as the SAFE Act. The Trump Mass Deportation Act would criminalize undocumented immigrants, eliminate due process protections, and undermine the federal government’s supremacy in regards to immigration enforcement. Designed to criminalize immigrants and drive them further into the shadows, the Trump Mass Deportation Act provides no real reform or solutions; it merely offers an expanded version of the “enforcement” only strategies, a discredited approach divorced from current realities. Consequently, the Trump Mass Deportation Act contains an abundance of draconian measures that would be wasteful, unjust, and ineffective and bring about further deformation, not reformation, of our immigration system.

The bill contains several provisions which will promote racial profiling.1 Allowing local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration with the same authority as though they were U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) agents, will, as history has shown, result in racial profiling and violation of constitutional rights.2 Moreover, the bill undermines public safety and community trust by shifting necessary law enforcement resources away from their core mission of protecting and serving our communities to rounding up suspected immigrants for deportation. Effective law enforcement is premised on community trust, where the community reports and cooperates with local law enforcement. As current practice demonstrates, turning local police officers into ICE agents results in scared, uncooperative communities.3 As local governments and police wrestle with how to build trust with communities, bills such as this one—which dramatically criminalize more community members—are a step backwards for both citizens and noncitizens alike. Critically, in terms of resourcing, the bill’s attempts to fund this grafting of local law enforcement into the immigration enforcement system fall far short. Already struggling local governments will face crushing financial burdens as they are usurped into mandatorily participating in this draconian scheme.4

1 The 287(g) Program: An Overview , American Immigration Council, March 15, 2017, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/287g-program-immigration

2 Letter to Clyde B. Albright, County Attorney, Alamance County, et. al, from Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Sep. 18, 2012, available at https://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/resources/171201291812462488198.pdf ; Letter to Bill Montgomery, County Attorney, Maricopa County, from Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Dec. 15, 2011, available at https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/12/15/mcso_findletter_12-15-11.pdf. 

3 Danyelle Solomon et. al, The Negative Consequences of Entangling Local Policing and Immigration Enforcement , Center for American Progress, March 21, 2017, https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2017/03/21/428776/negative-consequences-entangling-local-policing-immigration-enforcement/ (“According to the Major Cities Chiefs Association, or MCCA, entangling local law enforcement with federal immigration enforcement ‘would result in increased crime against immigrants and in the broader community, create a class of silent victims and eliminate the potential for assistance from immigrants in solving crimes or preventing future terroristic acts.”).