Equality California: Immigration Memos are 'Cruel and Draconian'

Washington, D.C. - February 22, 2017 -Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly issued dual memos on Tuesday detailing how his department will implement executive orders on immigration issued in the first week of Donald Trump's presidency. The memos outline an aggressive augmentation of the nation's immigration enforcement, including the hiring of 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and 5,000 Border Patrol agents to carry out deportations.

The memos direct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to treat most undocumented immigrants in the United States as priorities for deportation, especially those convicted or charged with any criminal offense, however minor. They call for the detention of any immigrant apprehended near the U.S.-Mexico border and for a dramatic increase in holding facilities for those detained. The memos also direct ICE to work aggressively with local law enforcement agencies to identify and arrest undocumented immigrants.  

"Tuesday's memos create the impression that the Trump Administration plans to create jobs solely by expanding the ranks of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers," said Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California. "They add to the already significant panic gripping our immigrant friends, neighbors and family members. These cruel and draconian orders affect hundreds of thousands of LGBT people, who face increased risk of harassment, violence and sexual assault in detention centers.

The proverbial knock on the door in the middle of the night is something that belongs to other times and other places. It is not something that anyone of any immigration status should ever have to fear in the United States. We applaud state and local officials across California for pledging to resist these un-American orders which will tear families and communities apart."

Along with millions of immigrants nationwide, Trump's orders affect some 250,000 undocumented LGBT Californians, many of whom came to the United States when they were very young or have "mixed-status" families in which some members are U.S. citizens and others are undocumented. Others are seeking asylum based on documented claims of LGBT-specific abuse and persecution in their home countries. A wholesale arrest-and-deport campaign would rip families apart, upend workplaces, and disrupt critical business sectors and services and send LGBT people back into hostile conditions.

Equality California is the nation's largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization dedicated to creating a fair and just society. Our mission is to achieve and maintain full and lasting equality, acceptance and social justice for all people in our diverse LGBT communities, inside and outside of California. Our mission includes advancing the health and well-being of LGBT Californians through direct healthcare service advocacy and education. Through electoral, advocacy, education and mobilization programs, we strive to create a broad and diverse alliance of LGBT people, educators, government officials, communities of color and faith, labor, business, and social justice communities to achieve our goals. www.eqca.org