May 17, 2023

REP. CORREA VOTES AGAINST REPUBLICAN-LED BILL TO EXPAND DEPORTATIONS OF LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENTS

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Representative Lou Correa (CA-46) voted against the Republican-led POLICE Act of 2023, an overly-broad, vaguely worded bill that will do nothing to improve public safety or protect the lives of public safety officers across the country.

“Instead of giving our public safety officers the resources they so desperately need to protect our communities, this unhelpful and poorly-drafted legislation would make it even easier to deport lawful permanent residents, individuals with green cards that we like to say have done things the ‘right way,’” said Rep. Correa. “These folks would become deportable without ever being charged, let alone convicted, of a crime. It’s unconscionable, un-American, and is a violation of innocence until proven guilty. And at a time when we should be encouraging lawful migration to the United States to increase our economic productivity, my colleagues should be joining me to create lawful pathways to citizenship for these individuals—not making it easier to deport them based on hearsay.”

Rep. Correa introduced an amendment to protect the rights of lawful immigrants and their families from this expansive deportation measure. It failed on the House floor—and would have ensured that only those individuals convicted of a crime against a public safety officer are subject to deportation, as is the case under current law. 

“I support our public safety officers, and call on my Republican colleagues to work with my colleagues and I to craft bipartisan, common-sense proposals that provide those who protect our communities with the resources they need to do their jobs,” Correa concluded. “This bill is a solution in search of a problem. It does nothing to keep our public safety officers safe, give them the funding they need, or the equipment they’ve been asking for. All it does is violate due process under the law.”

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