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Action Alert
Please send letters of opposition to members of Congress - especially to Senator Feinstein (if you live in CA).
"CLEAR" Act
which would require police to enforce
civil immigration laws or lose federal funds
The following is information on the "CLEAR" Act (H.R. 2671 - Norwood), which would require police to enforce civil immigration laws or lose federal funds.
The bill would also expand the scope of the National Crime Information Center database (which is accessed in routine situations by police to identify wanted criminals) to include individuals solely based on immigration status violations. This measure poses dangerous consequences for
public safety, improperly shifts the burden of federal immigration law enforcement to local police, and ensures the likelihood of civil rights abuses and wrongful arrests.
The good news -
The California Police Chiefs Association and numerous civil rights/ immigrant rights groups have come out against the CLEAR Act. Over 180 organizations, representing 32 states, have united in a nationwide sign-on letter (thanks to the National Immigration Forum) to be delivered to both the House and Senate this week. In addition, several members of the CA Legislature signed on to a letter addressed to Congress in opposition to the CLEAR Act.
The bad news -
The House has already 90 co-sponsors for the CLEAR Act, including at least five Democrats. In addition, the Senate plans to hold an Immigration Subcommittee hearing on this issue on Thursday, September 18 2003, at which time Senator Sessions (R-AL) may introduce a companion measure in the Senate.
PLEASE ACT NOW!
1) Please send letters of opposition to members of Congress - esp to Senator Feinstein (if you live in CA) - before Thursday, 9/18.
The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has set up an excellent fax
alert system on the CLEAR Act so constituents can send a FREE FAX in
opposition to the measure directly to their Congressional representatives.
The link to the CLEAR Act action alert is available at
http://capwiz.com/adc/issues/alert/?alertid=3353601&type=CO or directly at
www.adc.org. Please fax a letter to Feinstein and your representative before
Thursday and urge others to do the same.
2) Lobby members of the CA delegation to oppose the CLEAR Act.
Specifically, the following members should be considered targets (if you live
in CA) -
* Senate: Feinstein (on Judiciary Committee), Boxer.
* House:
CA members in subcommittee: Gallegly, Sanchez, Lofgren,
Berman
CA members in Judiciary committee: Gallegly, Berman, Lofgren,
Waters, Schiff, Sanchez.
* Republicans:
Urge any Rep. to come out in opposition to this measure. Unfortunately, the following Republicans from CA have already signed on as co-sponsors to the CLEAR Act, but I do think it's worth following up with some of them if you have a relationship:
Christopher Cox, Elton Gallegly, Duncan Hunter, Darrell Issa, Gary Miller, Dana Rohrabacher, John Doolittle, Wally Herger
3) Contact your local police chief or sheriff to come out against the CLEAR Act.
Please let me know if you would like a copy of the letter from the CA Police
Chiefs Association to assist in your lobbying efforts by sending me an e-mail
(rchakraborty@aclu-sc.org) with your fax number.
4) Collect community profiles and testimonials demonstrating the potential harmful consequences of this Act. Please send any newspaper clippings, stories, etc. to Raju with the South Asian Network at raju@southasiannetwork.org.
5) Join us in opposing the CLEAR Act!
Several community groups and organizations are mobilizing nationally to
defeat this Act and related efforts. If you would like to receive further
updates and join this effort, please send your contact info via e-mail to
rchakraborty@aclu-sc.org (in CA) or ltramonte@nif.org (national). Thanks for
your support!
For More Information:
Detailed analysis of the CLEAR Act
http://www.aclu.org/ImmigrantsRights/ImmigrantsRights.cfm?ID=13881&c=22
Text and status the bill available at:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.02671
September 2003
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