A friend of mine forwarded this La Raza action alert:

Legislation to allow police to enforce federal immigration law TO COME UP IN HOUSE BILL THIS WEDNESDAY! Take Action!
Please call and send a strong message to Congress that this proposal makes us all less safe!

This week, the House introduced various bills that do nothing to fix our nation’s broken immigration system, but are designed to produce good sound bites in the run-up to the November elections. One such bill is H. R. 6089, which includes provisions from the CLEAR Act and H. R. 4437 to turn state and local police into immigration agents.

This bill will jeopardize public safety. By gaining the trust of the community, state and local law enforcement have reduced crime and victimization across the country. If immigrants see state and local police as federal immigration agents, they will be less likely to come forward and report information about crimes that they witness or experience; the trust needed for effective community policing will be destroyed. Many law enforcement agents have expressed opposition to this provision because they do not want to lose the trust of the community.

This bill is not about apprehending criminals. Police officers already have the duty to arrest those people in our communities who are committing crimes. The bill’s supporters claim to simply recognize an inherent authority for police to enforce federal immigration law. But if this is the case, then why would such a law be needed? This is a back-door attempt to turn state and local law enforcement into federal law enforcement agencies.

This bill is a waste of taxpayer dollars and takes state and local police forces away from job number one: fighting crime. Cities and states don’t want to use scarce police resources to enforce immigration law. There is no question that the federal government has failed to enforce our immigration laws. But instead of tackling this difficult issue, the House is simply passing the buck to state and local police, and asking them to enforce civil immigration laws while also fighting crime and keeping our communities safe. The top priority of our state and local police officers should be investigating, solving, and preventing real crimes. H. R. 6089 is not only a distraction from that mission, but will make their jobs harder and our communities less safe.
Victims of domestic violence and other crimes will have good reason to fear the police if this bill passes. Under this new legislation, every contact that crime victims have with the police will be fraught with peril because their immigration status can be called into question.


TAKE ACTION!
Call your Representative TODAY and ask them to vote NO on HR 6089!
Tell them that:
Turning state and local police into immigration officers will jeopardize public safety.
This is simply another ineffective enforcement-only bill and the federal government’s latest attempt to pass the buck to the states.
We want solutions, not sound bites. Congress must act on real immigration reform, not piecemeal measures that harm our communities and solve nothing.




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National Council of La Raza
1126 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036

202-785-1670 Phone
202-776-1792 Fax
www.nclr.org
Hey, I'd say that anything so feared by La Raza has got to be good for America. Let's get on the phones, faxes and emails to support this legislation.