March 6, 2018
Sacramento, CA – Community groups across California are gearing up to protest U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ planned appearance Wednesday at a controversial law enforcement lobby group, which comes in the wake of an announced lawsuit against three pro-immigrant laws in California. Furthermore, advocates note that Sessions’ avowedly anti-immigrant positions and track record of anti-Black, racist remarks have long drawn intense criticism.
Protesters will begin gathering at 7:30 AM outside the Kimpton Sawyer Hotel in Sacramento and are available for interviews; please contact Eddie Carmona for more information.
The following is a statement released by the ICE Out of California Coalition, a statewide alliance that has fought back against the federal government’s cruel and criminalizing deportation machine and helped to pass measures limiting local involvement in deportations, like California’s SB 54 and stronger local policies.
There is too much at stake to mince words: the Trump administration’s agenda is hate-filled, racist, and xenophobic. And this lawsuit is an attack on our nation’s values of equality and compassion. Our state laws that limit local involvement in painful deportations, uphold worker rights for all, and challenge the indignity of detention are vital steps to recognizing our common humanity.
Now is the time for all Californians to stand up to federal abuses of power and blatant attempts at political retaliation, like this lawsuit and the racial profiling and taunting of immigrants which ICE carried out last week.
It’s well established under the Constitution that the federal government cannot seize our local resources to carry out their dirty work. “Sanctuary” and other policies that protect immigrants are on the right side history.
Jeff Sessions, on the other hand, is on the wrong side of history. He has launched numerous attacks on the civil liberties of all communities of color and recently invoked the “Anglo-American heritage” of Sheriffs’ offices.
This kind of hate has no place in California, and we call for full transparency regarding the California law enforcement lobby’s ties to Sessions. Are anti-immigrant forces seeking to influence policy in our state?
Organizations issuing this statement include: Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus; AFSC – US-Mexico Border Program; Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA; California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance; California Immigrant Policy Center; Courage Campaign; Credo Action; Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy; Council on American-Islamic Relations, California; Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto; Contra Costa Immigrant Rights Alliance; Dolores Street Community Services, Food Empowerment Project; Immigrant Youth Coalition; Indivisible 4 Immigration; Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity; La Raza Centro Legal; National Day Laborer Organizing Network; National Immigration Law Center; PICO California; PICO National; Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (SIREN); SF Day Labor Program & Women’s Collective; TODEC.