Our message to Trump:
The country’s largest, progressive coalition of immigrant rights groups: Community Change Action, United We Dream Action, FIRM Action, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, Center for Popular Democracy Action, National Immigration Law Center, and National Immigrant Justice Center come together at this time to demand that the health and safety of every person in the United States, regardless of their immigration status, be prioritized over this administration’s xenophobic, white supremacist agenda.

We demand that President Trump:

Suspend ALL immigration enforcement activities/operations. In this critical moment we strongly demand DHS to suspend all immigration enforcement activities and operations including but not limited to:

• Suspend all deportations
• Suspend all immigration arrests, including at-large arrests and mass workplace raids.
• Release all detained individuals on their own recognizance, minimizing the use of bond, and prioritizing the release of high-risk populations including but not limited to individuals who are pregnant, elderly, or living with chronic illness or disabilities
• For immigration court hearings, in addition to reassessing bond:
  • Suspend master calendar hearings while allowing for telephonic hearings when requested or for prolonged continuances for pro se individuals
  • Suspend merits hearings by video-teleconference
  • Allow for case-by-case decisions on whether to move forward based on an individual’s request and the availability of interpreter
• Guarantee no enforcement activities at hospitals, shelters, clinics, schools, campuses, courthouses, places of worship, and other sensitive locations, and suspend immigration checkpoints that interfere with border communities’ ability to access medical care
• Stop implementation of the Department of Justice final rule authorizing DHS to collect DNA samples from all immigrant arrestees and detainees including those seeking asylum.
• Provide resources for virtual/telephonic ICE check-ins and/or automatically postpone ICE check-ins with adequate notice to individuals
• Extend any deadlines associated with requests for evidence in asylum and other cases.
• Issue guidance regarding a temporary extension of any DACA EADs due for renewal.
• Instruct all local law enforcement, particularly in 287(g) jurisdictions, to cease immigration enforcement.
• Suspend Operation Palladium and recall all BORTAC agents that have been deployed to “sanctuary” localities.

Provide COVID-19 testing, treatment and services for ALL. Black, brown, undocumented and low-income communities are particualrly vulnerable to health and economic crises due to lack of health insurance or alternative options to continue generating their income such as remote work and paid sick leave. It is important that government officials (at all levels) ensure that:

• Testing and treatment must be free to the public (regardless of immigration status) in order to contain its impact. Anything less will undermine America’s effort to protect our communities and save lives.
• Public announcements regarding essential transportation must be made. The federal government must assist in ensuring that such transportation is available locally and that necessary reasonable accommodations are made.
• Access to relief or emergency social services and support cannot be restricted by immigration status, including as a question on initial intake forms.
• Elected and health officials must ensure that communications, press statements, guidance to access essential services and any other materials are accessible in multiple languages.
• Effective public health responses have to include welcoming messages for EVERYONE to seek the care they need, and that means everyone regardless of immigration status, insurance coverage or income. Furthermore, these public health materials must be grounded in scientific evidence in order to stop the spread of misinformation and xenophobia.
• Additional supports and/or stimuli that shore up the safety net and the economic security of those most in need–from food stamps to rent/housing assistance to unemployment insurance to paid leave among others–should be universally accessible without triggering any immigration penalties.
• In order to reduce the chilling effect and lift all barriers to accessing care, including fear, the implementation of the public charge rule in the U.S. and abroad is immediately and permanently halted.

Guarantee safe conditions and provide healthcare, testing and support to protect those in detention and prisons. Jails and prisons, including immigration jails, are known for their poor and even squalid conditions often lacking critical hygiene items such as soap, disinfectants and others. In order to prevent unnecessary risk, it is vital that:

• All detention jails, prisons, and camps must have evidence-based plans in place to prevent outbreak and/or to address an outbreak.
• Education and training must be provided to incarcerated people, staff, and visitors in order to inform about the risks and to understand the needed measures to minimize risk of contracting and spreading virus
• Government must take all necessary steps to ensure that everyone has access to essential products like soap, hand sanitizers, disinfectants and others.
• Similarly, should authorities suspect and/or confirms cases among people in detention, they must move swiftly to provide appropriate testing and healthcare measures, including:
  • Create plans for housing people exposed to or infected with the virus, and
  • Bar use of solitary confinement or lockdowns, which would only put more individuals at risk of mental harm or which could put incarcerated people in fear of isolation and therefore delay notification of medical staff should symptoms arise
• Any emergency funding appropriated by Congress should be directed to HHS with restrictions on transfer/moving funds to DHS accounts