Oppose Racial Profiling Amendments to the Immigration Reform Bill (S. 744)

Please take action if you live in one of the following 15 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Vermont – with senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee where important amendments to the immigration reform bill will be discussed over the next couple of weeks.

There are hundreds of amendments that have been proposed, three of which address racial profiling.

Of the three, an excellent amendment was proposed by Senator Mazie Hirono. She introduced an amendment to strengthen the immigration bill to expand protections against racial profiling on the basis of religion and national origin and to remove loopholes for border security and national security.

We need to show the Senate that we stand behind a real ban on racial profiling, but it will not be easy.

At the same time, there are two senators that have introduced outrageous amendments that would legalize racial profiling by the police. Senator Session’s amendment would allow federal agents to use profiling on the basis of race and ethnicity, and Senator Grassley’s amendment would allow for profiling on the basis of national origin.

The Senate Judiciary Committee should support all efforts to win an inclusive prohibition of racial profiling and denounce any attempts to legislate racial profiling.

Contact your Senators now and ask them to support the Hirono amendment and oppose the Grassley and Sessions amendments.