From enhanced “border security” measures to laws like Arizona’s SB1070 to the Secure Communities program and “driving while black or brown,” we know that racial profiling is too often a key part of the immigration enforcement, detention, and deportation system. With immigration reform on the table in Congress, we have a unique opportunity to prohibit racial profiling by law enforcement.
Racial profiling by law enforcement plagues many communities of color, causing broken trust between communities and those charged with protecting them. Historically, racial profiling has been viewed as an issue impacting African American and Native American communities. Increasingly after Sept. 11, 2001, members of Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian communities have also been targeted by law enforcement in the name of “national security.” In recent years, harsh immigration “enforcement-first” policies have encouraged federal agents along with state and local police to use racial profiling to target Latinos and others perceived to be “foreign.” Racial profiling is unjust and ineffective, whether it targets immigrants, African Americans, Arab Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Muslim Americans, Native Americans, or any other group.
Tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that any immigration reform legislation must ban racial profiling by all federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and protect the civil and human rights of everyone living in the United States. Go to www.rightsworkinggroup.org
