Tell Congress: This isn’t law enforcement, it’s authoritarianism.2

 

It’s the United States of America, not a dictatorship. So why are immigration agents wearing masks, concealing their identities, refusing to show badges, and rounding up people without warrants? Just this week, we watched as masked ICE agents arrested NYC Comptroller Brad Lander for demanding to see a warrant before letting go of an immigrant legally in the United States who was being abducted, rushed to jail and set for deportation without due process. In Los Angeles, masked agents sparked protests after violently arresting alleged immigration offenders in plain clothes without badges. It’s happening in Boston, San Diego, and Chicago. It’s happening in courthouses, schools, and hospitals nationwide as ICE agents show up masked, unidentified, and unaccountable. Workers, students, and families are being arrested like criminals, with no warrants and no rights. We must demand an end to these rogue operations and restore accountability. Demand Congress investigate ICE and pass legislation that protects the public from anti-American tactics, including masked agents, officers without identification, no reading of Miranda rights, and warrantless arrests. Sign and Send This is America. Law enforcement is supposed to wear badges and identification. They show their faces. They read you your rights. When ICE violates every one of those principles, it isn’t protecting the country. It’s undermining it. ICE claims it’s for “officer safety.” But what about the safety of everyday people who can’t tell if these masked men are law enforcement or violent impersonators? What about the civil rights of legal residents swept up in these raids without cause? Whether it’s local officials, like NYC Comptroller Brad Lander and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka or members of Congress, like Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. LaMonica McIver, even elected leaders have been arrested or handcuffed trying to observe or intervene in illegal ICE operations. All of this is happening as people whose names never make the news -- neighbors, workers, critical members of our communities -- are being locked up and then deported without due process. Students are taken for speaking out. Parents are arrested outside of schools. Workers are dragged from job sites by masked men with no badges and no warrants. No one is safe when law enforcement abandons law itself. Demand that Congress investigate ICE and pass legislation that protects the public from these anti-American tactics now. Together, we can end these masked raids and restore the rule of law. - LeeAnn LeeAnn Hall Director, National Campaign for Justice SUPPORT OUR WORK

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