Immigration Status Should Not Be Used To Silence Victims and Witnesses

From the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance:

Next Monday, March 1st, SB462 will be heard in the House Courts Criminal Subcommittee meeting in the afternoon.

SB462 (click here for full text: http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?ses=101&typ=bil&val=sb462) was introduced by Senator Janet Howell (for the third year) and says that law enforcement cannot ask about the immigration status of persons who report as victims or witnesses of crime. The bill does NOT prohibit law enforcement from asking about immigration status if they believe the person participated in committing the crime. This bill encourages victims and witnesses of crimes to come forward, report crimes, and assist in prosecutions.

The top-down trend toward turning local police officers into immigration enforcement auxiliaries cannot be allowed to silence survivors and witnesses of violent crimes. To show your support for the bill, see below:

By Friday, February 26th, please do the following:

1) Encourage your local Chiefs of Police, Sheriffs, and Commonwealth's Attorneys to support the bill and to tell their Delegates they support this public safety bill;

2) Call your Delegate and ask that s/he support SB462, a bill that promotes public safety by encouraging immigrants to come forward and report being victims or witnesses of crime.

3) Ask your staff, Board, volunteers, survivors, supporters, and community allies to call their Delegates to indicate their support for SB 462 (this is especially important if their Delegate is a member of the House Courts of Justice Committee – see list below) and to forward this alert to their colleagues, friends and family.

4) Join us on March 1st, in House Room C in the General Assembly Building, in the afternoon (Subcommittee will meet after the House adjourns, and that time varies every day) to support passage of the bill so it can be heard on the House floor.

If you do not know who your state Delegate is, go to: http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform.

For Delegate Capitol office phone numbers: http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteTL?OpenView

Questions? Contact the Action Alliance at 804-377-0335 or publicpolicy@vsdvalliance.org