Senate Rejects Misguided Anti-Immigrant Bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2015

CONTACT
Adela de la Torre, 213-400-7822, [email protected]

Senate Rejects Misguided Anti-Immigrant Bill Opposed by Broad Coalition of Mayors, Police Chiefs, and Crime-Victim Advocates

WASHINGTON — The Senate today rejected a punitive bill that would have stripped law enforcement funding and grants for low-income housing from jurisdictions— over 350 of them—that have “community trust” programs aimed at making immigrants and other residents feel safe coming forward to report and help investigate crimes. The final vote was 45-54.

The bill, S. 2145, by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), threatened to cut off federal grants used by cities and states to fund community services and housing for seniors and low-income residents. It also would have denied Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) funding to certain law enforcement agencies.

The following is a statement by National Immigration Law Center Executive Director Marielena Hincapié:

“Once again, conservatives in Congress today tried to score cheap political points by scapegoating immigrants. This latest effort aimed to bully hundreds of cities and counties into choosing between either dropping community trust policies or losing funding for their low-income residents and seniors.

“The bill did not attempt to fix our immigration system. It simply would have penalized the very jurisdictions that have recognized immigrants as vital components of their communities and treated them as such.

“This was cynical politics at their worst. The Senate was right to stop this bill.”

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