The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) has strongly condemned the passage of legislation that would allow for the deportation of undocumented immigrants, including those from the Caribbean, who are charged with non-violent crimes such as burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting—even if they are not found guilty. The NYIC voiced concerns that this measure could disproportionately affect immigrant communities, further endangering their status in the U.S. despite not being convicted of any crime.
Forty-eight Democrats in the House of Representatives voted with all the Republicans in passing the Bill, which is expected to receive bipartisan support in the US Senate on Friday.
The Bill is named after Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed last year in Georgia by a migrant who had crossed into the United States illegally and was arrested and charged with shoplifting, but was not detained.
“In America, everyone is afforded due process under the law. Everyone deserves their day in court, and the chance to argue for their innocence,” Murad Awawdeh, NYIC president and chief executive officer, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
“However, Congress is now taking a draconian turn towards denying people this fundamental constitutional right. We know that black and brown Americans — and New Yorkers — are disproportionately targeted by law enforcement.
“If this Bill becomes law, immigrants who are swept up in this enforcement, without even being convicted of a crime, could be permanently separated from their families before having the opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law — in direct violation of their constitutional rights,” said Awawdeh, whose NYIC is an umbrella policy and advocacy organisation represents more than 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York.
He said it is shocking to see elected leaders, “so callously throwing immigrants under the bus in the hopes that they can build their own political futures with Donald Trump.
“We are calling on our elected officials in the Senate to wake up to the realities of what this will mean for families and communities across our country, and to reject this fascist legislation.”
Democrat Pramila Jayapal said on the House floor on Tuesday that people deserve to have their day in court and are innocent until proven guilty.
“That seems to be something that the majority [Republicans] has forgotten or doesn’t seem to care about.”
Last month, Caribbean-American Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D Clarke joined US lawmakers and immigration advocates in calling on the Biden Administration to protect black immigrant communities during the lame duck session.
The legislators said they were particularly concerned about how Trump’s proposed immigration policies will impact black communities and families of mixed status.
Trump, who will be sworn in on January 20, has vowed to conduct mass deportation of immigrants, particularly Haitians. He had made the issue a central theme of his presidential campaign.
The quick passage of the Bill reflected how Republicans in Congress, emboldened by the governing trifecta they will hold when Trump takes office, are using their power to revive and pass a raft of border security measures that died during the last Congress in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Those include bills to increase deportations, hold asylum applicants outside of the US, and strip federal funding from cities that limit their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement authorities.
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