Increased ICE presence at schools, courthouses, churches, and hospitals foments fear and deters immigrants from receiving an education, reporting domestic abuse and other crimes, and seeking social services
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the Trump Administration reportedly plans to target immigrant communities with widespread, indiscriminate raids starting on Sunday, U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris joined Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and 14 of their colleagues in introducing legislation to block immigration enforcement actions at sensitive locations like schools, hospitals, and religious institutions without prior approval and exigent circumstances. The Protecting Sensitive Locations Act codifies the Department of Homeland Security’s existing policies and expands on those policies to ensure that immigrants are able to access education, criminal justice, and social services without fear of deportation.
“The president and his administration have spent years demonizing immigrants and stoking fear in immigrant communities – that must end,” said Senator Harris. “The priority of law enforcement officers should be promoting the safety of the communities they protect, not rounding up immigrants at schools, hospitals, and places of worship. A victim of a crime should be able to run into the street and flag down a police officer instead of being made to feel like the criminal. We must take action to keep our communities safe for everyone.”
Along with Harris and Blumenthal, this legislation is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Michael Bennet (D-CO).
The bill is also supported by more than 300 national, state, and local organizations.
The Protecting Sensitive Locations Act requires that, except in special circumstances, ICE agents receive prior approval from a supervisor when there are exigent circumstances before engaging in enforcement actions at sensitive locations, such as: schools, hospitals and health clinics, places of worship, organizations assisting crime victims, and organizations that provide services to children, pregnant women, victims of crime or abuse, or individuals with mental or physical disabilities. The legislation also requires that ICE agents receive annual training and report annually regarding enforcement actions in these locations.
This bill codifies and expands upon rules already in place at ICE, which would provide policy consistency across enforcement agencies and administrations over time, giving immigrant communities certainty that their rights will be respected.
23 comments
If anyone is in this country ILLEGALLY, then they must be flushed out and deported! No hiding out in churches, mosques, schools, courthouses or hospitals! Those who aid them in this deception, should be arrested, tried and sentenced. No exceptions!
Sharon, you sound like a Nazi. Why are you so focused on immigrants who have ZERO impact on your life? Meanwhile, the rich at the top love hiring immigrants for cheap labor and have always done so. While the wealthy steal your pension, get bailed out for ripping off millions of Americans, crash the stock market, ruin healthcare and education, destroy the biological ecosystems, you are SILENT. Focus on the real enemy and get your head out of your rear end.
Jerry, I guess you mean illegal immigrants, and not immigrants in general. There is a big difference between legal and illegal immigrants.
You are wrong, illegal immigrants have a lot of impact on all of our lives. (1) They come in breaking the law instead of using ports of entry. That tells you already they have low regard for the law. (2) They work for cash and don’t pay taxes, at least initially. (3) They use social services and handouts anyway they can. (4) They use the ER for their medical needs. (5) They steal social security numbers with help of stolen mail from our mail boxes so they can get more handouts and legal jobs. I know someone whose identity was stolen that way, messy thing when you have to go to social security, stand in line all day, to proof that this is your ID. Meanwhile, you don’t get loans approved etc.
Your identity can be stolen from good old Americans too, or China, Russia, India, etc. Funny how you bypassed the entire part about the ones at the top… A big bank can foreclose millions of Americans and leave them homeless but no one is criminal there? Corporations can basically buy elected politicians and sway law in their favor and that’s legal? But oh yea, immigrant children should be the ones in cages, not the poor millionaire and billionaires playing with our lives, actually doing exponentially worse crimes and destruction.
You are right, corporations, Americans, everybody breaking law is criminal. I also believe lobbying should not be allowed using money. But immigrants breaking the law should not get better treatment than Americans. Why do so many people say illegal immigrants do nothing wrong? They break the law when crossing the border illegally, and they do that intentionally and deliberately. That’s just wrong.
These illegals are NOT immigrants. Not by a long shot! They are INVADERS who should be rounded up and arrested and later deported to their home countries.
I like the wealthy and they don’t steal my pension because I have none. I don’t even have health insurance because I pay for any medical care I might need. So there! The ones who steal from us are the illegal INVADERS, Jerry!
Jerry? Were you complaining when OBAMA put kids in cages? Where were you then?
That’s why we should have a president who has been against it——BERNIE 2020
Well, Jerry! Guess what? It will be a cold day in hell when BERNIE makes it to the Oval Office. This admitted socialist already has one foot on the banana peel.
Jerry, the illegal aliens DO have a BIG IMPACT on my life! One of them plowed into an aunt of mine who was driving with her two young children in southern California, KILLING THEM ON IMPACT! His excuse was that he was DRUNK!
I have friends who have had a similar kind of IMPACT on their lives as well.
It is IMPERATIVE that illegal alien be flushed out of hiding places, arrested and deported to the countries of their origin
The open borders game on display. Instead of openly passing a law that allows open migration into this country they want to play this game of passing laws to protect migrants from the laws these legislators promised to uphold. There can be no better reason to never vote for these traitors ever again.
A-P Highway – I have relatives and friends working for the U.S. Department of State and other federal agencies who no longer vote because they see first hand how the system works. Our voting system is just a discombobulated mess! We have enough immigration laws on-the-books and don’t need any news ones. All which has to be done is to ENFORCE the laws already there.
Jerry, you’re an uninformed uneducated California voter. First of all. There is no comparing what happened during the holocaust to anything. Just insinuating Nazi is insulting to those who died and who experienced the holocaust. Secondly, illegals impact all Americans including the homeless, the poor, and other American citizens who are in need of social services. The millions of legal immigrants are also harmed and they didn’t break any laws.
The only reason this crap is going on is because people like Kamala Harris who plays race into everything she does, is to buy votes with your public tax money. They do this by trying to skirt American laws to promote themselves. Like many blind California voters, If you want to compare anything, compare socialism and democracy in a republic. Socialism has Never Worked except for the leaders. That will show you why and how these socialist politicians want to use public funds to create their personal greed for power and wealth. They will do anything to promise you paradise. The problem is someone has to pay for it. Nothing is free, nothing. As long as you and other uninformed uneducated California voters continue voting in la la land politicians, society will deteriorate. A prime example is the city having to have a human feces patrol and free hypodermic needles. That is the wrong direction for a civilized society. These politicians that promote illegal crime like Harris, Pelosi, Newsom just to name a few are conspiring against the United States constitution for their personal benefit. Don’t fall for it unless you are prepared to work for free for them and give up everything you a
Along with your family have worked hard for. America is the most giving country than any other. You will stop that by moving to socialism.
Jerry, you’re an uninformed uneducated California voter. First of all. There is no comparing what happened during the holocaust to anything. Just insinuating Nazi is insulting to those who died and who experienced the holocaust. Secondly, illegals impact all Americans including the homeless, the poor, and other American citizens who are in need of social services. The millions of legal immigrants are also harmed and they didn’t break any laws.
The only reason this crap is going on is because people like Kamala Harris who plays race into everything she does, is to buy votes with your public tax money. They do this by trying to skirt American laws to promote themselves. Like many blind California voters, If you want to compare anything, compare socialism and democracy in a republic. Socialism has Never Worked except for the leaders. That will show you why and how these socialist politicians want to use public funds to create their personal greed for power and wealth. They will do anything to promise you paradise. The problem is someone has to pay for it. Nothing is free, nothing. As long as you and other uninformed uneducated California voters continue voting in la la land politicians, society will deteriorate. A prime example is the city having to have a human feces patrol and free hypodermic needles. That is the wrong direction for a civilized society. These politicians that promote illegal crime like Harris, Pelosi, Newsom just to name a few are conspiring against the United States constitution for their personal benefit. Don’t fall for it unless you are prepared to work for free for them and give up everything you
Along with your family have worked hard for. America is the most giving country than any other. You will stop that by moving to socialism.
Hey JG this assignment might work for you too:
Keeping in line with the restructuring of the Sheriff’s Office, we have created a new division within the department. Effective immediately, citizens will be able to earn this Walker County Sheriff’s Office Keyboard Warrior badge anytime they use social media to post something that’s absolutely ridiculous. We will no longer engage in fruitless back and forth arguing with people who say ridiculous things. We will simply issue the badge, and move along. The criteria to qualify as a WCSO Keyboard Warrior is as follows:
?Absolutely no law enforcement experience whatsoever
?The ability to completely ignore factual information and continually operate in the world of fiction and/or the past
?The ability to form your own ridiculous opinion and then force that opinion down other people’s throats, no matter how many times you’re proved wrong.
?Must know how to do everyone’s job better than they do, even though you’ve never done them
?The ability to NEVER admit you’re wrong, even when there is glaring evidence that you are, indeed, wrong
?The ability to talk passionately about things you heard from someone else and/or just completely made up in your own head
?Must have an appallingly closed mind with the inability to accept positive change and to always point out the negative in any situation
We look forward to identifying our local Keyboard Warriors and can’t wait to make even more of our citizens feel like a part of our department.
I wish she would just go away
Great for defense lawyers of American citizens who have warrants for their arrests and choose to hide out in churches, schools, hospitals, etc….they can now argue unequal treatment under the law. Selective discrimination , harsher treatment against American citizens who require law enforcement to track them down to bring them to justice for failing to obey court orders and breaking the law. Awesome. This is going to go well. A lawless society. No rules. Pure insanity. Let’s have a bill that prohibits legislatures like Harris from calling 911 when someone tries to break into their home. That’s just immoral. They need a place to sleep and eat. Open your doors. Invite them in.
Here is another fine example of two faced Kamala Harris who only promotes herself while not having any moral character. Jeffrey Epstein is the very wealthy higher up person accused of crimes with female minors. Harris blasts Epstein for the alleged charges while a day later takes money for her campaign from Epstein’s law firm. (Page A3 Bay Area news group).
She has no support from me. Taking money like this for political gain is disgusting.
So she is a traitor to the citizens of the U.S. Remove Harris from office now for unlawful decision making and threats against U.S citizens.
No law-breakers should be allow to hide in churches, hospitals, courthouses or schools! No matter if what they committed is a misdemeanor or felony!
What if a serial murderer were to step into a church or the above-mentioned facilities, does this mean the authorities pick them up? Illegals are committing crimes, yet they are allowed to hide out in these facilities? NO FREAKIN’ WAY!
Yes! Those who harbor them should be arrested along with the culprits for aiding and abetting, no matter if these are priests, medical staff, legal personnel or teachers!
If someone breaks our laws and tries hiding out in what they think are places off-limits for authorities, this is just plain stupid! It should not be tolerated. No venue should be off-limits to our law enforcement personnel. None of those who run churches or synagogues or mosques should be exempt from being charged with harboring fugitives. The same goes for school teachers and others.
I never understood why these people can hide out in churches.
Kamala Harris was elected to DO A JOB representing some people in the US Senate! She is not doing that at all. Instead, she’s flying around the country promoting herself as a candidate for the presidency! On whose time? And … she is getting paid a salary through our taxes. We now have taxation without representation again.
Time to throw her butt into BOSTON HARBOR!
Illegals should not get ANY social services! Nor should they be attending our schools!
Comments are closed.