Democratic lawmakers have urged US President, Joe Biden, to stop using local police to enforce US immigration laws, arguing that it is ‘making the country less safe by dissuading immigrants from coming forward to report serious crimes. A letter was recently sent urging the Biden administration to immediately ‘terminate agreements’ with local police.
The letter, sent on April 22 by Senator Cory Booker to US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, called for the new administration to ‘immediately terminate’ so-called 287(g) agreements, which allow state and local police to ‘operate as federal US immigration agents’.
Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, was joined on the letter by Republican, Mike Quigley, of Illinois and Washington Republican, Pramila Jayapal, who is chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.