Introducing: New Way Forward Act
About
The Immigrant Justice Network, along with a coalition of grassroots and national organizations, demands that Congress take legislative action to disentangle the criminal legal and immigration systems that propagate mass incarceration and mass deportation, paving a New Way Forward for immigrant justice.
The "New Way Forward Act, introduced by U.S. Representatives Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Karen Bass (CA-37), marks an important step toward remedying injustices in the U.S. immigration system and securing the full human rights of all members of our communities. The New Way Forward Act rolls back harmful immigration laws that, for decades, have led to racial profiling and disproportionately resulted in the incarceration, deportation, and destruction of families of color and immigrant communities.
The New Way Forward Act would:
End mandatory detention. Reduce mass incarceration by ending mandatory detention and banning for-profit immigration jails.
Restore judicial discretion and end summary deportations. Allow immigration judges to consider a person’s individual circumstances during deportation proceedings, allowing more people to remain with their families and move forward with their lives without fear that an old offense could lead to deportation.
Limit the criminal legal system to deportation pipeline Allow independent federal judges to review certain decisions of immigration judges that the 1996 laws unfairly tried to remove from judicial oversight.
Decriminalize migration End federal prison sentences and criminal prosecutions for people who cross the border seeking freedom, safety, opportunity, or to reunite with their families.
Implement a five year statute of limitations for removal. Advance racial justice and address obstacles to equal justice in the criminal legal system by limiting deportation for drug convictions and other offenses that result from enforcement that disproportionately targets communities of color.
End entanglement between federal immigration enforcement and local law enforcement. Protect communities and local resources by ending the harmful practice of local police acting as deportation agents or carrying out mass deportations with ICE.
Create an opportunity to come home for people previously deported. Allow people previously ordered deported to apply for the opportunity to come home.
Resources
History
In the late 1990's, Immigrant Justice Network (IJN) members along with grassroots and national partners began a conversation about the mass incarceration of immigrants in the U.S., grounded in the values of justice, human dignity, and due process, the #Fix96 campaign was launched.
#Fix96 was a call to challenge the two immigration laws signed during the Clinton administration in 1996–the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA) and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA). These laws further entrenched mass incarceration and laid the blueprint for the deportation machine we face today.
The #Fix96 campaign was supported by grassroots organizations across the country, but elected officials on both sides continued to focus on exclusive immigration reform efforts and have failed to address the mass criminalization and enforcement enabled by the 1996 bills.
Now, with the New Way Forward Campaign, IJN continues to call for dismantling the systems that criminalize and incarcerate immigrants. In addition to the 1996 bills, we must also repeal harmful laws enacted decades earlier that criminalize migration and have led to 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.
Support for a New Way Forward
| Advancement Project Alianza Americas America's Voice American Arab Anti-Discrimination American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) American Friends Service Committee 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 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 Fair Immigration Reform Movement (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 |