LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION urging President Barack Obama to end the sweeping
raids on immigrants by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and
focus on expediting immigration reform

WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has accelerated
the pace of enforcement in the Nation's interior; and
WHEREAS, They are focusing on undocumented workers as well as immi-
grants with criminal convictions; the increased number of immigration
raids has resulted in the separation of families and is inflicting
economic and social costs on American communities; and
WHEREAS, Rounding up and criminalizing hard-working immigrants --
denying them basic due process and locking them up far away from their
family -- instills fear and suspicion within local communities; and
WHEREAS, A sizable number of immigrants caught in these raids are
mothers with young children; some are still nurturing their infants;
American children are left behind as their immigrant parents languish in
detention centers or are deported; and
WHEREAS, In fiscal year 2007, DHS arrested nearly 5,000 individuals at
worksites; the employees, not the employers, were charged with
possession or sale of fraudulent documents, identity theft, Social Secu-
rity fraud and re-entry after deportation; this is a tenfold increase
from just five years before; and
WHEREAS, Many immigration raids have been so sweeping and untargeted
that they have ensnared U.S. citizens and permanent residents; immi-
gration agents have entered people's homes during pre-dawn hours and
have detained everyone living there including U.S. born children; and
WHEREAS, The dramatic increase in raids and the skyrocketing use of
detention centers are costing taxpayers more than $1 billion each year;
many businesses are shut down after raids -- displacing all workers and
in small towns, other businesses are forced to shut down as many immi-
grants are too fearful to go to work or shop for necessities; and
WHEREAS, Immigration enforcement should focus on rules that ensure due
process, as well as our core constitutional values; and
WHEREAS, Our enforcement strategies should focus on those who came to
this country to commit crimes without impunity; they should also focus
on employers who have physically, financially and emotionally abused
immigrants for financial gain; smugglers who abandon border-crossers to
die in the desert should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law;
and
WHEREAS, The federal government cannot fix our immigration system with
an "enforcement-only" approach; immigration reform is key to our
Nation's security and prosperity; our current immigration policy serves
neither; and
WHEREAS, Piecemeal fixes are not the answer; a comprehensive response
is needed to address the needs of immigrants in the United States; and
WHEREAS, These raids are painful, shameful and counterintuitive to our
nation's values of social justice and freedom; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
urge President Barack Obama to end the sweeping raids on immigrants by
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and focus on expediting a much
needed immigration reform; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to Barack Obama, President of the United States of America.