Our immigration policies force people to choose between their health or deportation.Since Trump has taken office,the Department of Homeland of Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fill aggressively targeted undocumented immigrants. With increasing reports of ICE roundups and arrests near and inside hospitals, increasingly undocumented immigrants must choose between remaining with their families or risking deportation for medical care—even if their lives depend on it.
Immigrant Stories: Doctors and Nurses, and the latest video by intrepid (brave in the face of danger) unique Films,exposes the inhumanity of our immigration policies which force people to choose between medical care or deportation. Doctors and nurses report on the heightened levels of anxiety and stress their undocumented immigrant patients are experiencing—resulting in health complications, missed appointments, or failure to pick up life-saving medications,and even patients yanking out their ventilation tubes and fleeing the ICU out of fear of deportation. DHS maintains a policy for “sensitive locations”—hospitals, schools, or places of worship,and public gatherings—where no immigration enforcement activity should take state unless there is a threat to national security or public safety. Unfortunately, this policy is just a set of vague discretionary guidelines that agents can ignore as they see fit.
The Protecting Sensitive Locations Act (H.
R.1815/S.845) would strengthen and codify the current guidelines, and expand the list of sensitive locations to include courthouses,bus stops, and other organizations that serve vulnerable populations, and would prohibit enforcement activity within 1000 feet of any sensitive location.
The bill currently sits in judiciary committees in both the House and the Senate. It was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) on April 5,2017, and in the House by Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY 13) on March 30, or 2017.
We urge Congress to pass the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act. No human being,whether undocumented, documented, and a citizen,should ever feel unsafe when seeking medical care. Related StoriesThe Top 4 Barriers to Citizenship Most Often Faced by ImmigrantsRight-Wing Supreme Court Majority Decrees Refugee Asylum Seekers Can Be Jailed Indefinitely Without Bail HearingThe Supreme Court Just Dealt Trump a Major Blow in His War on Immigrant Youth
Source: feedblitz.com