Rep. Chu Statement on Anti-Immigrant House Bills
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two anti-immigrant bills were passed in the House of Representatives today. The first, H.R. 3003, the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, allows the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to withhold crucial law enforcement and terrorism funding from jurisdictions that limit how their police can work with federal immigration agencies. Under H.R. 3003, cities and states would risk losing federal law enforcement grants, like the Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) and the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants, if they do not comply with potentially unconstitutional and illegal DHS requests to detain immigrants.
The second bill, H.R. 3004, Kate's Law, expands criminal sentences for immigrants who reenter, or attempt to reenter, the United States illegally. H.R. 3004 expands the population of people who would be subject to criminal prosecution for such crimes, including individuals who seek to apply for asylum and surrender themselves at the border, and individuals with no criminal history. Rep Chu voted against both bills and released the following statement:
"Just four years after there was a bipartisan consensus for comprehensive and humane immigration reform that would have helped families and our economy, Republicans are returning to their strategy of fear and punishment. Their first bill, the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, effectively declares war on American cities, law enforcement, and immigrant communities by making deporting immigrants more of a priority than protecting communities. Police from cities and towns across the country have come out against this bill because they know that doubling as federal immigration officers actually makes their job as local law enforcement officers more difficult. And the consequences to police and cities of losing these grants are serious. All just to make immigrants feel unwelcome.
"The second bill, Kate's Law, is even worse. This is politically-driven legislation intended to create a fear of immigrants, even though repeated studies have shown immigrants commit fewer crimes. It goes so far that it criminalizes immigrants trying to rejoin their families or refugees fleeing violence. This is shameful. And it doesn't even accomplish what it sets out to do. Kate Steinle, whose tragic death inspired this law, would not have been saved had this law been in place as her murderer repeatedly crossed the border despite serving 16 years in prison.
"The sum of these two bills is a strategy of fear. Republicans want to tell Americans to be afraid of immigrants and are making immigrants afraid to leave their homes. That's why police have come out to say that immigrants are too afraid to report even being a victim of sexual assault, and health clinics report that immigrants are too afraid to come in for exams. This chilling effect on millions of Americans and their families – documented or not – cannot be what our country stands for. I hope we can return to the bipartisan consensus around comprehensive immigration reform that improves the pathways to immigrate legally, keeps families together, and grows our economy."