U.S. Senate Rejects Attacks on Community-Policing Policies

WASHINGTON —Today, the U.S. Senate rejected attempts to move forward two bills that would have eroded hard-won community-policing policies in so-called sanctuary cities and further criminalized immigrants. The two bills, sponsored by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), would have penalized jurisdictions that have community-trust policies by withholding federal funds aimed at rebuilding and revitalizing communities, and would have created new mandatory minimum sentences for undocumented immigrants charged with unlawful reentry, respectively.

Marielena Hincapié, executive director at the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement:

“The politics of xenophobia and fear-mongering lost today. Sen. Toomey and Sen. Cruz’s bills would have threatened public safety and wasted billions of taxpayer dollars, all while scapegoating immigrant communities. We are glad that neither of these backward proposals will see the light of day, and we commend those who chose to stand in recognition of immigrants’ contributions to our communities rather than use them as scapegoats.”

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