Advancement Project National Office Applauds Proposed Legislation Decriminalizing Immigration

WASHINGTON, DC – Advancement Project National Office welcomes the introduction of the New Way Forward Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. The New Way Forward is a welcome first step towards undoing some of the harms of the 1996 immigration laws that created mandatory detention, facilitated local law enforcement with immigration enforcement, criminalized migration (illegal entry and illegal re-entry federal prosecutions), and eliminated the ability of immigration judges to consider multiple mitigating factors and equities in immigration court.

“Communities of color are disproportionately impacted when local law enforcement engages in racial profiling. Policies like “stop and frisk,” broken windows policing, and collaboration with immigration enforcement results in the prison to deportation pipeline,” said Losmin Jiménez, Project Director and Senior Attorney for the Immigrant Justice Project at Advancement Project National Office. “The New Way Forward Act would limit the criminal legal system to deportation pipeline and end entanglement between federal immigration law enforcement and local law enforcement. The bill also provides an opportunity to come home for people previously deported.”

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Advancement Project is a multi-racial civil rights organization. Founded by a team of veteran civil rights lawyers in 1999, Advancement Project was created to develop and inspire community-based solutions based on the same high-quality legal analysis and public education campaigns that produced the landmark civil rights victories of earlier eras.