The legal framework behind today’s mass detention and deportation infrastructure dates primarily to 1996, when a pair of harsh laws (AEDPA & IIRIRA) dramatically altered U.S. immigration policy. These laws entangled our civil immigration system with our flawed criminal justice system, linking two systems which both suffer from racial bias and significant obstacles to justice and fairness. In addition, harmful laws enacted in 1929 by white supremacists to criminalize migration has driven a mass expansion in federal private prisons and enabled significant abuses, from “assembly-line” hearings of shackled people to Trump’s infamous family separation policy.

These laws put a chokehold on pathways to legalization and naturalization by massively expanding the number of disqualifying criminal grounds for legal permanent residents and other immigrants, removing opportunities for individuals to seek deportation relief before a judge, and subjecting immigrants to up to 20 years in federal prison for seeking to reenter the U.S. to reunite with their families. As with the widely condemned and punitive welfare “reform” and crime bills, these laws relied on racialized stereotypes to create policies and laws that treat people of color as disposable and criminal until proven otherwise. These laws are the blueprint for the sweeping enforcement and deportation machine that we see in full force today.

The New Way Forward Act, sponsored by U.S. Representatives Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (IL), Pramila Jayapal (WA), Karen Bass (CA), and Ayanna Pressley (MA), would begin to undo the harms of these immigrant criminalization laws.

The New Way Forward Act will:

End mandatory detention.
Implement a five year statute of limitations for removal.
Limit the criminal legal system to deportation pipeline.
Restore judicial discretion and end summary deportations.
End entanglement between federal immigration enforcement and local law enforcement.
Decriminalize migration
Create an opportunity to come home for people previously deported.

Visit the New Way Forward campaign page to learn more.

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Advancement Project

Alianza Americas

America’s Voice

American Arab Anti-Discrimination

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

American Friends Service Committe

Amnesty International USA

Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC)

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO

Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence

ASISTA

Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action

Campaign for Youth Justice

Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

Center for Popular Democracy

CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers

Church World Service

Conference of Major Superiors of Men

Center for Community Change

Community of Sant’Egidio

Congregation of Holy Cross, Moreau Province

Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepard, U.S. Provinces

Congregation of the Mission, Western Province

Council for Global Equality

Council on American-Islamic Relations

CREDO

Detention Watch Network

Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries

Drug Policy Alliance

East Coast Asian American Student Union

Edmund Rice Christian Brothers North America

Faith In Public Life

FIRM

Families Belong Together

Farmworker Justice

Franciscan Action Network

Freedom for Immigrants

Freedom Network USA

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Grassroots Leadership

Hispanic Federation

Human Rights Watch

Immigrant Defense Project

Immigrant Justice Network

Immigrant Legal Resource Center

Immigration Hub

Indivisible

Japanese American Citizens League

Just Futures Law

Justice in Motion

Justice Strategies

Maryknoll Sisters Eastern Region USA

Mijente

Missionaries of the Sacred Heart

Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity

MomsRising

MoveOn

Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)

National Bail Fund Network

National Center for Transgender Equality

National Council of Asian Pacific Americans

National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)

National Domestic Violence Hotline

National Education Association

National Equality Action Team

National Immigration Justice Center (NIJC)

National Immigration Law Center (NILC)

National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG)

National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)

National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights

National Partnership for New Americans

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates

People’s Action

PFLAG National

Poligon Education Fund

Positive Women’s Network -USA

Provincial Council Clerics of St. Viator

RAICES

Restore The Fourth

Revolutionary Love Project

Southeast Asian Freedom Network (SEAFN)

South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)

Southeast Asian Resource Action Center (SEARAC)

Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC)

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Ujima Inc: The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community

UndocuBlack Network

UnidosUS

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries

United We Dream

Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER)

Xaverian Brothers

Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights

A

Arizona

Southside Worker Center

C

California

Asian Prisoner Support Committee

Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus

Central American Resource Center (CARECEN)

Centro Legal de la Raza

Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)

Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC)

Equality California

Haitian Bridge Alliance

Haitian Immigrant Bail Assistance Project (HIBAP)

Immigrant Legal Defense

Khmer Girls in Action

Public Counsel

SIREN

Vietnamese American Organization

Vietnamese Student Union at UCLA

VietRISE

Colorado

United for a New Economy

Connecticut

Connecticut Shoreline Indivisible

The South Asian Society at Yale

Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA)

D-F

District of Columbia

DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF)

G-I

Georgia

Asian American Advocacy Fund

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta

Idaho

United Action for Idaho

Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence

United Vision for Idaho

Illinois

Arise Chicago

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago

HANA Center

Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

Indivisible Brookfield

Kaibigan: Philippine Student Association

Knox College Young Democratic Socialists of America

Latino Policy Forum

Organized Communities Against Deportation (OCAD)

PASO – West Suburban Action Project

Indiana

St. Patrick’s Church

Iowa

Eastern Iowa Community Bond Project

EMBARC

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund

Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence

K-L

Kentucky

Louisville Community Bail Fund

Passionist Solidarity Network

Louisiana

ISLA: Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy

Voces Unidas: Louisiana Immigrants Rights Coalition

M

Maryland

Maryland United for Peace and Justice

The University of Baltimore School of Law

Massachusetts

Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW)

Dominican Development Center

Mount Holyoke College Asian American Students in Action

Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts

Minnesota

ReleaseMN8

Mississippi

Mississippi Center for Justice

N

Nevada

Arriba Las Vegas Worker Center

Silver State Equality – Nevada

New Hampshire

NHCUCC Immigrant and Refugee Support Group

New Jersey

Assumption College for Sisters

New Jersey Coalition to End Domestic Violence

Sisters of Christian Charity

New Mexico

New Mexico Immigrant Law Center

New York

Adhikaar

Asian American Federation (AAF)

Brooklyn Community Bail Fund

Brooklyn Defender Services

Church Women United in New York State

Latino Justice

Mekong NYC

New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC)

Next100

S.T.R.O.N.G. Youth, Inc.

Sisters of St. Joseph

Southeast Asian Defense Project

The Bronx Defenders

Womenkind

North Carolina

Equality North Carolina

Southeast Asian Coalition (SEAC)

O-P

Ohio

Advocating Opportunity

Holy Spirit Catholic Community

Lorain Ohio Immigrant Rights Association

Ohio Domestic Violence Network

Ohio Immigrant Alliance

Sisters of St. Francis of Tiffin

Pennsylvania

Pax Christi Greensburg

Sisters of Christian Charity

VietLead

Rhode Island

Providence Youth Student Movement

South Carolina

Hilton Head For Peace

T-U

Texas

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hidalgo County

South Texas Human Rights Center

V-W

Vermont

Vermont Freedom Bail Fund

Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence

Virginia

Cville Immigrant Bond Fund

Washington

F.I.G.HT.

Jefferson County Immigrant Rights Advocates (JCIRA)

Khmer Anti-Deportation Advocacy Group (KhAAG)

OneAmerica

Sexual Violence Law Center

Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Wisconsin

Catholic Coalition for Migrant and Immigrants

End Domestic Abuse – Wisconsin

Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Commission