Dear Chairman Graham and Ranking Member Feinstein,



We write today to express our strong opposition to S. 1494, the Secure and Protect Act of 2019. The bill would not resolve the current humanitarian crisis at the border; instead, it would foreclose lifesaving protection and subject children as young as toddlers to prolonged and harmful incarceration. Even worse, the bill fails to address the root causes of the problems leading so many to flee in the first instance. We urge you to reject these harmful measures and vote no on the bill.



The Secure and Protect Act of 2019 abandons America’s legacy of responding fairly and compassionately to those in need of safety. As written, the bill would foreclose protection to some of the world’s most vulnerable, including women and children; eliminate the ability of children to seek protection if they have been a victim of a severe form of trafficking; subject children to prolonged detention; close pathways to protection by pitting asylum seekers against refugees at a time when there are reports that the Administration is considering setting the refugee admissions number to zero; foreclose access to immigration programs that Congress has previously authorized; create fundamental due process concerns by precluding individualized reviews for humanitarian relief; subject children and families to mandatory secure detention with no exceptions; and would infringe on the rights of states by authorizing federal officials to question the decisions of juvenile and family court judges, an area almost exclusively reserved to the states.



Further, the bill would make sweeping changes to critical safety programs, including asylum, which would likely impact thousands in need of protection. Instead of basing protection on an individual’s claim, the bill would create a statutory prohibition based on country of nationality, with no exceptions. For instance, any individual who is a national of a specified country, despite never having lived there, would be completely ineligible for asylum, even if they are being persecuted. The bill also fails to address the complexity of dual nationals, creating the real possibility that those in need of life saving protection might be statutorily prohibited because a country considers them a national.

Rather than consider legislation that punishes, detains, and categorically denies protection to vulnerable children and families, the Committee should consider common sense legislation that would address the root causes of the humanitarian crisis and provide fair and efficient asylum processing. The harmful proposals in the Secure and Protect Act of 2019 will not resolve the current situation and will leave children in clear danger.



For the reasons above and many more, we urge you to preserve America’s historical and moral legacy as a place of refuge and fairness, and not move forward with this bill. Additionally, we ask members of this Committee to vote no on the bill.



Respectfully submitted,



National Organizations

Alliance of Baptists

America’s Voice

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) American Federation of Teachers

American Friends Service Committee

American Immigration Lawyers Association

Amnesty International USA

Anti-Defamation League

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC

Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence

Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project

Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)

Campaign for Youth Justice

Center for American Progress

Center for Gender & Refugee Studies

Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

Center for Reproductive Rights

Center for Victims of Torture

Child Welfare League of America Children’s Advocacy Institute Children's Defense Fund

Church World Service

Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach Columbia Law School Immigrants' Rights Clinic CREDO

Detention Watch Network

Earthjustice

Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) Families Belong Together

Farmworker Justice

First Focus on Children

Freedom for Immigrants

Freedom Network USA

HEAL Trafficking

HIAS

Hispanic Federation

Human Rights Campaign

Human Rights First

Human Rights Watch

Humanity United Action

Immigrant Legal Resource Center Indivisible

International Refugee Assistance Project International Rescue Committee

Justice Strategies

Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)

Latin America Working Group (LAWG)

Lawyers for Good Government

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Main Street Alliance

MoveOn

National Center for Transgender Equality

National Council of Jewish Women

National Education Association

National Immigrant Justice Center

National Immigration Law Center

National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

Oxfam America

Partnership for America's Children

Planned Parenthood Federation of America

RAICES (Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services) Quixote Center

Refugees International

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)

Southeast Immigrant Rights Network

Southern Border Communities Coalition

Southern Poverty Law Center

Tahirih Justice Center

The Advocates for Human Rights

UndocuBlack Network

UnidosUS

Union for Reform Judaism

United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

United We Dream

Voto Latino

We Are All America

Win Without War

Women's Refugee Commission World Relief

Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights YWCA USA

ZERO TO THREE

State & Local Organizations

Alliance for Addiction and Mental Health Services, Maine Amend Law LLC

Arkansas United

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago

Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA Austin Sanctuary Network

Carolina Immigrant Alliance, Inc. CASA

Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle

Center Global (a program of the DC Center for the LGBT Community) Child and Family Policy Center

Children's Defense Fund - TX

Children First for Oregon

Cleveland Jobs with Justice

Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)

CRLN

Deportation Defense Legal Network

Diocese of Charleston Ecumenical Office

Don't Separate Families

East Harlem Community Health Committee, Inc.

Equality California

Families Rights Network

Family Action Network Movement (FANM)

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin Social Action Ministry Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project

Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program

HOPE Border Institute

Human Rights Initiative of North Texas

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota

Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project

Kino Border Initiative

Latino Social Work Network

Legal Aid Justice Center

Maine Children's Alliance

Marion County Commission on Youth, Inc.

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition

Migrant Center for Human Rights

Mi Maletín

NC Child

Nebraska Appleseed

New Harmony Presbytery

New Mexico Voices for Children

New York Council for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

New York Immigration Coalition

Northern Illinois Justice for Our Neighbors

OneAmerica

Palmetto Friends Gathering (Society of Friends, Quakers) Partnerships for Trauma Recovery

Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada

Public Counsel

Reformed Church of Highland Park Refugee Services of Texas

Rhode Island KIDS COUNT

San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center

SC Christian Action Council

SCAN NY - Supportive Children's Advocacy Network Services, Immigrant Rights & Education Network (SIREN) Silver State Equality-Nevada

South Carolina NAACP

South Texas Human Rights Center

St. John Neumann Church

The Green Valley/Sahuarita Samaritans

The Healing Way

Transformations CDC/Episcopal Church

UnLocal, Inc.

Voices for Vermont's Children