Ramirez Statement on Vote Against Legislation to Erode Due Process, Profile Immigrants
Washington, DC — Yesterday, Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03) released the following statement after voting NO on H.R. 29 and strongly opposing any unconstitutional, unAmerican and dangerous federal or local efforts that erode the right to due process and fuel extremists’ anti-immigrant hate.
Ramirez's video statement here:
Transcript:
As you know, just a few days ago, I was sworn in to the 119th Congress. We had our very first bill on the floor; it’s called the Lanken Riley Act. Let me start by saying that what happened to Laken, her death, is a tragedy. As we think about what happened to her, I also recognize we can’t create more tragedies out of her death. That is not how we honor her memory. The bill that came before us on the House floor was about demonizing immigrants—perpetrating dangerous narratives and undermining immigrants' right to due process and access justice. That is not how I believe we should be responding and certainly not the way we honor her memory.
So I wanted to spend a few moments with you and actually tell you what the bill is versus what people are telling you it is.
First of all, this bill is not a bill that protects women; frankly, it does the opposite. What this bill does is require mandatory immigration detention of any undocumented person - a 12-year-old, a 17-year-old girl, a DACA recipient - who has been arrested and the charges dropped. This bill would actually give the authority to immediately begin proceeding to deport without due process. And look, accountability is important, but so are the basic tenets of due process.
This bill strips our neighbors of due process. It also overrides the federal law. Now, you would ask yourself, it’s a federal bill, what do you mean it overrides the federal law? Basically, it is nothing short of a blank check for discriminatory, anti-immigrant State Attorney Generals to unleash chaos onto our immigration system. It would even allow attorney generals to force the executive branch to detain and deport specific people, overturn individual humanitarian parole decisions, and even stop visas for an entire country. This bill just goes beyond to create all sorts of dangerous precedent.
And here's the bottom line: if my Republican colleagues want to make an impact on women's safety, then I would encourage them to prioritize bills like H.R. 5003, the Break the Cycle of Violence Act. That’s what we should have been voting for as the very first bill today. But let’s just be frank: they’re more interested in using this moment to convince the American people that immigrant people are the problem, and that they [Republicans] are keeping women safe. You and I both know that, under the Republican leadership and this trifecta, women are not safe.
I refuse to believe that in order to make some people safe, we have to put many other people in danger. I believe that the struggle for security, safety and civil liberty is one that is shared by immigrants and is also shared by women. And I understand that Americans are angry about high prices, unaffordable housing, a lack of affordable healthcare, income inequality, etc. But none of that is a result of immigration. Undocumented immigrants didn’t rob you of your affordable quality education; a private corporation did that. Trans children did not deny your health insurance claim; a private insurance company did that. An asylum seeker did not raise your rent or didn’t raise your grocery; a billionaire’s greed did that. Our focus must be on taking on billionaires and corporate greed. That’s where our focus should be. It should be listening to our communities and prioritizing their community safety. This bill does not do that. It sets a dangerous precedent and is exactly why I voted No.