06 JUN 2022
140 Organizations Urge Congress to Act Against White Supremacy Ideologies and Deliver Policy Solutions that Strengthen America’s Immigration System
Groups Representing a Diversity of Constituencies and Issues Send Letter to Congress Urging Them to Reject Legislation Rooted in White Supremacist Ideologies, Dismantling America’s Asylum System
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, as reported by CQ Roll Call, a broad spectrum of 140 organizations sent a letter to Congress, urging members to reject the demands — rooted in white supremacist and racist ideologies — to enact anti-immigrant legislation, such as the Lankford-Sinema bill that would ultimately undermine America’s asylum system for years to come. Led by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Haitian Bridge Alliance, and the Immigration Hub, the letter, equally, calls on Congress to carry out the policy priorities of Black leaders and civil rights organizations that address racist ideologies and gun violence, which led to the Buffalo mass shooting.
The “Great Replacement Theory” and other white supremacist tenets have inspired hate speech, violence and a series of tragic mass shootings targeting Black people, immigrants of color, Jews, Muslims, Latinos, Asian Americans, LGBTQIA+ people, and many other groups. Versions of these harmful concepts have been, unfortunately, at the center of policymakers’ strategy and rhetoric. While some politicians echo “invasion” and “open borders” attacks on the campaign trail, falsely depicting immigrants of color as a threat to the nation, others in Congress are intent on passing egregious policies that would dismantle the nation’s asylum system and block Black, brown and non-white immigrants from seeking asylum at the border.
The groups, which include the NAACP, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Anti-Defamation League, urge Congress to put an end to policy debates rife with scare-mongering, anti-Black, and anti-immigrant sentiments by passing solutions that reflect the nation’s values and are widely supported by the American public, such as an orderly and fair process to seek asylum.
The letter reads, in part: “We the undersigned 140 organizations stand with Black communities, and all communities of color in America and at our borders, who have been relentlessly targeted in the media, in the halls of Congress, and tragically, by armed white supremacists. From El Paso to Pittsburgh, and across cities and towns in the U.S., the targeted murder of 10 people in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo is the latest in a series of tragedies directly inspired by white supremacist ideology. The racist and xenophobic concepts allowed to flourish online are being used to dehumanize and ferment violence against Black people, immigrants of color, Jews, Muslims, Latinos, Asian Americans, LGBTQIA+ people, and many other groups targeted by white supremacists.”
The groups continue: “First and foremost, we urge Congressional leaders to carry out the policy priorities of Black leaders and civil rights organizations to address violence against Black communities. They further should deliver on the campaign promises they made to the American electorate and, at a minimum, Congress should not create further harm by enacting anti-immigrant legislation. Instead, they should vote to protect undocumented immigrant youth and DACA recipients; they should vote to prioritize families and strengthen our legal immigration system; they should reopen and strengthen our asylum system; and they should ensure that localities have the resources to address migration comprehensively and humanely. This is what they can do today instead of submitting to bigoted efforts to redefine who we are as a nation.
“As leading organizations who fought relentlessly against the outright racism of the prior administration and its efforts to tear down our immigration system, we urge Congressional leaders to reject demands to pursue a border policy debate rife with scare-mongering, anti-Black, and anti-immigrant sentiment as Congress seeks to pass important COVID funding legislation.
“Support for the Lankford-Sinema legislation sends a dangerous signal to the American people—that they are willing to compromise our American values for fear of political, far-right attacks, undermine the administration’s efforts to finally rollback countless cruel and racist immigration policies, and eliminate a fair and just process that would allow people to exercise their right to seek asylum as enshrined in our laws and supported by Americans at large. It would also be a vote to codify Stephen Miller’s and a designated hate groups’ signature policy.”
The letter can be read in its entirety here.
###
The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.