Northern Border Coalition States Fed Up With Border Policies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NYIC joins over 50 Organizations across the country demanding changes in Border Patrol

For the first time, northern border states have united to urge the Department of Homeland Security to reform the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol and to call on the Department of Justice to close loopholes in the Racial Profiling Guidance that allow racial and religious profiling in border communities.

In the past decade, northern border residents have documented a history of racial and religious profiling, harassment, abusive interrogation, searches without probable cause, road checkpoints and sweeps of public transit.

“Racial profiling, aggressive interrogation, and questionable collaboration between Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and state and local law enforcement have become the norm along the northern border in New York,” said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition. “Such enforcement tactics fail to secure our border and violate constitutional safeguards that apply to U.S. citizens and immigrants alike."

While CBP maintains that such enforcement practices are necessary to prevent unauthorized entry into the U.S., the reality is that CBP’s actions have drifted inland, many miles from the border, tearing apart families and burdening taxpayers with the cost of detaining individuals who pose no threat to our national security.

In response, the Northern Border Coalition, in a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder, detailed accounts that paint an alarming picture of how DHS patrols our nation’s northern borders.

Today's letter to Administration officials marks the launch of a series of events in the month of February calling attention to the need for major reform of DHS' practices along the border.

On February 23, NYIC will join groups from around the country in Detroit, MI, for the Northern Borders Conference. And on Feb. 28, the Northern Border Coalition and One America of Washington State will spearhead a “We Are the Border” National Day of Action, honoring the thousands of people who have been mistreated in border communities.

The New York Immigration Coalition is one of the founding members of the Northern Borders Coalition, a union of organizations along the northern border working to stand up for civil and human rights together. The Coalition helps build shared strategies amongst our members to address new border challenges, and collaborates with our partners in the Southwest to share best practices. For more information about the Northern Border Coalition, visit: http://michiganimmigrationreform.org/NorthernBorders/about.html

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