Norton to Fight Republican Attack on D.C.’s Immigrant Community, Home Rule

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she would fight a bill introduced yesterday by Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) that would overturn a District of Columbia law that limits the circumstances under which the District will cooperate with federal immigration officials, including detention and gathering and disseminating information about a person's immigration status. Norton cosigned a letter yesterday with Representatives Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) and Judy Chu (D-CA) asking Members to vote against a national bill scheduled for a vote on the House floor today that seeks to punish localities that choose to work productively with their immigrant populations instead of turning local law enforcement into federal immigration police.

"This bill is another attack on our immigrant community," Norton said. "The District, like cities across the country, has decided that the interests of public safety and justice are best protected by limiting the city's cooperation with federal immigration officials, yet Representative Gohmert thinks he knows how better to protect our city than officials elected to bear that responsibility. This bill would deter immigrants from cooperating with our local law enforcement and seeking assistance from police when crimes are committed against them, which would make immigrants easy prey for criminals and would endanger other residents. Representative Gohmert, a Tea Party leader, is violating his professed principles of local control of local affairs by seeking to overturn local law and to substitute the judgment of federal officials for a local government.

"We are all distressed and saddened by the outrageous murder of Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco. However, the senseless murder by an undocumented immigrant could not have happened in the District of Columbia. The District does detain people who have been convicted of dangerous crimes, as was the case with the undocumented immigrant in San Francisco. I oppose the bill on the floor today aimed not only at the District, but also at other jurisdictions that do not detain ordinary immigrants. However, we most certainly will not allow a Member of Congress to showcase his personal ideology by reaching undemocratically into the business of a single district whose residents have no recourse in response to his autocratic action against them."

The Gohmert bill would require only the District, upon arrest of an individual, to provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) information necessary to determine the immigration status of the individual. If the individual is here illegally, DHS would be required to issue a detainer. Once detained, D.C. law enforcement would then be required to hold an immigrant in custody for up to 48 hours. Any D.C. official who failed to do so would be subject to a fine up of up to $10,000. Moreover, if DHS failed to issue a detainer, no DHS political appointee could travel using a government aircraft, receive any non-essential training or receive a bonus or any salary increase.