GAPIMNY recently signed a petition urging the Obama Administration to end the raids led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) targeting Central American children and families who recently came to the U.S. seeking protection from life-threatening violence in their home countries.
During this critical time when over 5 million immigrant students and parents are caught in limbo waiting for the implementation of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programs, ICE’s decision to target asylum seeking children and families is a grave mistake that only instills fear in all our communities.
In addition, GAPIMNY, along with 40+ organizations, endorsed a letter to the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas in December 2015 denouncing the use of profiling in immigration enforcement. The Priority Enforcement Program (PEP), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s new program for local and national immigration enforcement, promises to profile people based on suspected threat to national security, suspicion of terrorism, and gang affiliation.
Our South Asian, Southeast Asian, API, and people of color family have been profiled and criminalized enough. NQAPIA personally delivered this letter at a meeting of LGBT organizations working on criminal justice issues and is demanding the creation of a clear policy definition of inappropriate profiling, a process to address allegations of profiling, and a revocation of detention or deportation orders when inappropriate profiling is used.