Full letter with signatories available here

WASHINGTON — Today, 187 local elected officials from more than 30 states released a letter to President Trump and Congress denouncing family separation raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The letter calls on Congress to refuse to fund the President’s mass deportation and family separation plan by ensuring that ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are not given additional resources to apprehend, detain, separate, and deport children, youth, and families. Teaming up with United We Dream, Local Progress members are working to protect their communities as the administration continues to ramp up its deportation force.

With Congress voting late last week to appropriate billions more dollars to ICE and CBP without any safeguards or constraints on human rights abuses, members of the Local Progress network applauded those in Congress who voted no on the supplemental and stood strong for immigrant families.

“Our city has fought and defeated Trump’s policies in the courts and in our voting booths,” said Local Progress Vice Chair and Philadelphia Councilmember Helen Gym. “Every step of the way, our communities will fight back against the human rights abuses of this administration.”

“This breaks America’s promise to immigrants who fled violence, poverty and other persecutions to enjoy the unalienable rights of liberty, freedom and the pursuit of happiness our country have guaranteed to generations of immigrants over the years,” said Portland, Maine Council Member Pious Ali.

“This is an attack on basic human rights and the residents of cities around the country,” said Seattle Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda. “We will not sit idly by, we will not be complacent, we will not be complicit in this attack on our communities.”

“Snatching families out of their homes and racially profiling residents for apprehension are disgusting reminders that the Trump administration always attacks communities of color in attempts to distract from his failed presidency,” said Nashville Metro Councilmember Colby Sledge.

“This nation is built and founded by immigrants and the very thought of these inhumane practices of ripping communities and families apart must cease immediately,” said Milwaukee County Supervisor and School Board Member Sequanna Taylor.

“We will not tolerate fear mongering and separation of families. We are a community and a nation of immigrants and it is our job to protect all,” said Omar Herrera, Trustee and Police Commissioner in the Village of Ossining, New York.

“Needlessly disrupting the peace and security of men, women, and children simply trying to exist and raise a family is cruel and reeks of racial bias,” said Indianapolis City-County Council Vice President Zach Adamson. “Our immigrant families are valued members of our community who deserve to live a life without constant fear of an oppressive government stalking them, as we all do.”

“If they take one of us in our city, they took way too many,” said Chicago Alderman Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez.

The Local Progress network counts nearly 1,000 local elected officials across 46 states and more than 500 localities in its membership. Local Progress and its sister project, Local Progress Action, engage in strategic campaigns and issue working groups to win pivotal legislative victories at the local level, build state power, and elevate important issues to the national stage. In recent months, Local Progress members published a letter, signed by over 200 elected officials, calling for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and they have advanced immigrant protection policies in dozens of localities.

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www.localprogress.org
Local Progress is a network of progressive local elected officials from around the country united by a shared commitment to equal justice under the law, shared prosperity, sustainable and livable cities, and good government that serves the public interest. Local Progress is staffed by the Center for Popular Democracy.

United We Dream Action is the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the nation, a powerful network made up of over 500,000 members and 48 affiliate organizations across 26 states. You can find more about United We Dream Action online at www.unitedwedreamaction.org