Milwaukee, WI – On Thursday August 1st, the United States Senate Judiciary Committee will begin the mark up process on The Secure and Protect Act of 2019, Senate Bill S.1494. U.S. Senate Bill S. 1494 removes numerous dueprocess protections, eliminates certain categories of individuals from being eligible for asylum, increasesthe period of time children and families can be kept in federal detention, and drastically lowers the
safety standards of the facilities children and families can be detained in.Darryl Morin, President of Forward Latino stated “S.1494 represents a departure from the principles
upon which our nation was founded and the promise our nation has kept for over 243 years. It is indirect contradiction to everything our nation holds dear. It is an attack on the family as it prolongs theperiod of time children and families can be held in federal detention. Further, it strips away theminimum safety standards required for the detention centers where they are held. We only need lookat the report issued by the Acting Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security on July 2,2019 https://forwardlatino.org/child-detention-1) to see the inhumane conditions in which childrenand families continue to be detained. S.1494 does nothing but increase the suffering of those fleeingviolence in their homeland and does nothing to address the root cause of the problem. It does nothingto address the crime and violence from the countries from which they are fleeing, and it does nothing toaddress the judicial backlog intentionally created by this administration. Further it strips away dueprocess from asylum seekers and in a number of circumstances completely eliminates asylum eligibilityfor entire classes of individuals. For these reasons Forward Latino encourages members of the SenateJudiciary Committee to vote no, and for all members of Congress to end any further consideration of this bill.”
