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.
Supporting Organizations
NATIONAL
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
Arizona
Southside Worker Center
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)
District of Columbia
DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF)
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
Kentucky
Louisville Community Bail Fund
Passionist Solidarity Network
Louisiana
ISLA: Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy
Voces Unidas: Louisiana Immigrants Rights Coalition
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
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)
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
Texas
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hidalgo County
South Texas Human Rights Center
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
Sisters of St. Joseph
