New York, NY—Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 29, a bill that will now go to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature and enactment. The legislation would require ICE to detain undocumented immigrants who are simply arrested or charged with – not found guilty of – nonviolent crimes, including burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting. Among many others, this would impact DACA recipients and children under the age of 18, including unaccompanied children. The legislation also expands the standing of state Attorney Generals to seek injunctions against the federal government for immigration policy decisions, which will create chaos in the federal courts.
This House vote follows the Senate’s approval of the same measure earlier this week, which included additional amendments. Forty six House Democrats (including New York representatives Ritchie Torres, John Mannion, Laura Gillen, Joe Morelle, and Tom Suozzi) joined all House Republicans in voting for the bill.
Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition:
“The passage of this bill will be remembered by Americans for years to come as the moment when our government wrongly sanctioned mass cruelty to please private prison purveyors. H.R. 29 is a discriminatory, anti-immigrant bill that violates the U.S. Constitution, under the guise of public safety, by rolling back basic due process protections for those who are wrongfully arrested from losing their immigration status. The bill will not only reverse decades of progress in advancing the rights and dignity of immigrants across the country, it will ultimately escalate the mass incarceration of people of color, including children and youth, by enabling anti-immigrant law enforcement practices and profiling of individuals perceived to be undocumented. The legislation will upend our federal government’s ability to enforce immigration law by putting it into the hands of state attorney generals across the country and throwing our broken immigration system into chaos. H.R. 29 will destabilize our families and communities, while devastating our economy and do nothing meaningful to keep us safe. Each and every person who voted this bill into law should be ashamed.”