On Thursday the Michigan Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety is scheduled to vote on three bills to protect Michiganders against some of the most flagrant abuses by ICE:
- Protect sensitive locations: Senate Bill 508 would designate certain places like courthouses and other “sensitive locations” as immigration-enforcement-free zones. Michigan residents should not have to fear encountering masked secret police when they are receiving care in a hospital. Children should not have to fear being taken by ICE while they sit in a classroom. Under this bill, such publicly funded spaces would prohibit law enforcement activity unless accompanied by a valid judicial warrant.
- Protect Michiganders’ privacy: Senate Bill 509 would prohibit state agencies from handing over someone’s personal information solely for the purposes of immigration enforcement, without a judicial warrant. Protecting our personal information from unauthorized disclosure or overreaching government actors has never been more critical to maintaining Michiganders’ fundamental right to privacy.
- Limit masked, no-uniform enforcement: Senate Bill 510 would prohibit all on-duty law enforcement officers from wearing a face covering that conceals or obscures their identity while interacting with the public, absent a handful of exceptions. The bill also requires that all on-duty law enforcement officers wear their uniform. This bill would go a long way to protect our rights and hold law enforcement to standards of transparency and accountability to all people of Michigan, not just immigrants.
Send a letter to your representatives and to Governor Whitmer today supporting these commonsense policies.