The U.S. Senate yesterday voted to approve two weeks of funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the agency funding ICE enforcement. The following statement from Judith Leblanc (Caddo), executive director of Native Organizers Alliance:
Far from keeping us safe, the presence of ICE agents in our cities has incited and escalated violence. ICE is responsible for the deaths of nine people. Peaceful people, media, and legal observers have been the target of strong-arm tactics by ICE agents, thrown to the ground, beaten, and tear-gassed. We’re seeing the harassment, detention, and mistreatment of people who pay taxes and work everyday in our communities. They have committed no crimes; a five-year old child in a bunny hat; a loving father who was the sole caregiver for his disabled son, who later died when his dad was detained and no one was left to care for him.
ICE is also detaining and intimidating legal U.S. citizens carrying identifying documents including passports and tribal IDs. We cannot allow this to continue.
In Minneapolis, ICE is also targeting Native people, our schools and community services. The fear of ICE and their tactics is keeping our children from going to school and our elders from their doctor’s appointments.
ICE is funded by taxpayers to the tune of billions of dollars. Congress gutted healthcare, nutrition assistance, and essential human services to pay the $75 billion price tag for ICE. We must hold ICE and Border Patrol accountable, and that begins by ending their nearly limitless supply of funds and resources. Congress must take decisive action to end the violence ICE is causing in our communities.”
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