WASHINGTON, D.C.—Multifaith organizations are urging voters to contact their representatives in the U.S. Senate to request that they include anti-profiling protections in the upcoming immigration reform bill (S. 744) currently under consideration in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Committee members have already introduced hundreds of amendments to the bill, some of which seek to add protections against law enforcement engaging in racial and religious profiling.
Section 3305 of the act prohibits the blanket use of race and ethnicity by federal law enforcement, but fails to prohibit profiling based on religion or national origin and includes troubling exemptions in cases of national security and border protection.
While a few positive amendments have already been adopted, like Senator Richard Blumenthal’s (D-CT) amendment, which would prohibit the federal government from reimbursing state and local law enforcement agencies that engage in racial profiling and lawful conduct, a number of conflicting racial and religious profiling amendments will be voted on in the next two weeks.
Contact the Senate Judiciary Committee:
CAIR has provided a “click and send” letter addressed to the Senate Judiciary Committee for voters who want to demand an end to racial and religious profiling by law enforcement. The sign-on letter supports favorable amendments to the Senate immigration bill that seek to ban law enforcement profiling and opposes amendments that would seek to write such practices into law.
The letter letter supports Senator Mazie Hirono’s (D-HI) amendment (Hinro19) that would prohibit Federal officers from using religion or national origin in making law enforcement decisions. The amendment also bans open-ended loopholes that permit profiling at the border and for reasons of national security.
This petition letter also supports Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Coons’ (D-DE) amendments, Blumenthal 8 and Coons 13, which would restrict Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from conducting enforcement at places of worship, schools, and other sensitive community locations.
CAIR’s letter opposes Senator Jeff Sessions’ (R-AL) amendment (Sessions 39), which would allow federal law enforcement to engage in racial and ethnic profiling, and Senator Grassley’s (R-IA) amendment (Grassley 49), which would permit federal agents to profile on the basis of nation origin.
While this grassroots effort is being headed by an Islamic group, it is of vital importance to Sikhs who many times are mistaken for muslims in the United States. Sikhs should ensure that law enforcement does not have the legal power to profile based on race or religion.
US citizens and residents can send letters to their representatives here: http://www.capwiz.com/cair/issues/alert/?alertid=62671311&type=TA
