National Liberty & Justice for All Leaders Denounce Legislation that Shreds Our System of Check and Balances

Washington, D.C. - As the House of Representatives rushed through three bills that erode basic civil liberties and human rights in America - H.R. 6094, 6095, and 4830 - national leaders of the Liberty & Justice for All campaign today called on the Senate to oppose bills that abandon who we are as a nation.

Speaking at a briefing earlier today about bills that will dramatically expand the government's powers to detain, deport, and criminalize people without a fair process, Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said, "These bills are incredibly offensive to anyone who believes in due process of law and a system of checks and balances. It is certainly offensive from a civil rights standpoint."

Karen K. Narasaki, chair of the Liberty & Justice for All campaign and president and executive director of the Asian American Justice Center, asked Congress to consider what these bills really mean for our national identity. "Do we want to be a country where people are jailed or torn from their families and deported without their day in court?; where government agencies, no matter how grievous their misconduct or error, can make life altering decisions without effective judicial review?" she asked.

Bishop Stephen Bouman of the Metropolitan New York Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America called these measures "fool's gold." He expressed disappointment that this legislation was not leading our country in the direction we want it to go.

Cecilia Munoz, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, spoke about how these pieces of legislation will undermine relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Jennifer Daskal, advocacy director of the U.S. Program of Human Rights Watch, also spoke out against the legislation.

Today's briefing came after the Liberty & Justice for All campaign held a series of community hearings across the country during the summer. In August and September, Hate Free Zone Washington, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Coalicion de Derechos Humanos/Alianza Indigena sin Fronteras, Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, and members of the Detention Watch Network held public hearings in Bellingham, Wash., Tucson, Ariz., Dearborn, Mich., and Washington, D.C. Unlike the Congressional field hearings, the Liberty & Justice for All campaign hearings, attended by hundreds of people, opened the door for the public's participation in the immigration debate and allowed the affected communities to describe the harmful impact of harsh immigration enforcement practices.