Today, my dear friend H could be detained, arrested and accused of harboring undocumented immigrants while transporting kids and young adults to their dental appointments. H has arranged pro-bono visits with a prominent dentist for children that lack dental coverage due to poverty and their immigration status. Most of them have never seem a dentist in their lives and some have complicated cases that require immediate care. I guess the dentist can also been accused of "harboring".
This is the Arid Zone where charitable work to the "least of these" is stigmatized and punishable.
I continue to be really upset and troubled.
I do not understand why is people happy in the immigrants' rights community and the Mexican-American community.
This are the portions that has been stopped:
• The requirement that police officers investigate the immigration status of all individuals they stop if the officers suspect that they are in the country unlawfully;
• The mandatory detention of individuals who are arrested, even for minor offenses that would normally result in a ticket, if they cannot verify that they are authorized to be in the U.S.;
• The new statute imposing state criminal penalties for non-citizens failing to register with the Department of Homeland Security or failing to carry registration documents;
• The provision for warrantless arrest of individuals who are deemed by state or local police officers to be "removable" from the U.S.; and
• The new state statute making it a crime for alleged undocumented immigrants to work.
• The mandatory detention of individuals who are arrested, even for minor offenses that would normally result in a ticket, if they cannot verify that they are authorized to be in the U.S.;
• The new statute imposing state criminal penalties for non-citizens failing to register with the Department of Homeland Security or failing to carry registration documents;
• The provision for warrantless arrest of individuals who are deemed by state or local police officers to be "removable" from the U.S.; and
• The new state statute making it a crime for alleged undocumented immigrants to work.
Left are provisions that criminalizes the solicitation of employment on public streets or the one that forbids local police agencies from adopting policies that limit or restrict enforcement of federal immigration laws, the so called Sanctuary cities. The section about harboring undocumented immigrant is still there.
There are poison pills on the sections that are still standing so forgive me if I'm not in the mood for a high five.
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