We, the undersigned, demand that our state legislators oppose H4919, an anti-immigrant, anti-Latino law. We oppose any laws that mirror Arizona’s horrendous SB 1070, an attempt to push Latino families out of that state.
We vow to oppose H4919, along with any legislation similar to SB 1070, for the following reasons:
- These laws are unconstitutional: they subject massive numbers of people—both citizens and non-citizens— to racial profiling, improper investigations and detention.
- These laws allow people to assume that all undocumented immigrants are criminals and therefore and deny immigrants access to essential benefits that they are entitled to. They create second-class citizens of those who are perceived to be foreign and undocumented.
- These laws legitimize and foster discrimination against Latinos, which in turn endangers public safety.
We will not allow such laws to be passed in our state.
We will urge our lawmakers to oppose H4919 because it will deny immigrants access to essential benefits to which they are entitled, foster discriminatory animus against and harassment of Latinos, compromise the physical well-being of many in the Latino community, and lead to an increase in civil rights violations against all Latinos.