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This letter was sent in support of at-risk immigrants to Fox Valley mayors, law enforcement and elected county officials
Dear City and County Officials of Fox Valley,
Over the last 6 months, agents from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have begun to randomly, willfully, and repeatedly target individuals with no prior criminal records. They have shown up in courts, places of employment, schools, and other locations to accomplish these arrests. In addition, ICE has shown no identification, or proper legal documentation or justification for their raids. While documented criminal activity should be addressed, what has become more and more apparent is that ICE is casting a much wider and, we believe, unconstitutional net in their raids.
We applaud and appreciate the character of our local law enforcement and their upholding of state laws (The TRUST Act) regarding detention of immigrants. We only ask that you continue these practices, that you refrain from offering detention facilities, and refrain from sharing information with ICE without proper legal and constitutional justification.
By and large, the men, women, and children targeted by these raids are our neighbors, friends, and co-workers. As such they should be provided with the same due process and protection under the law that US citizens receive. Anything less, we believe, is unconstitutional and goes against the principles our country has long believed and practiced.
Our congregations represent a broad cross spectrum of citizens from up and down the Fox Valley and across Kane County.
Thank you for your consideration.
Respectfully submitted,
St. Charles Episcopal Church (SCEC)
Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva (UUSG)
Congregational Church of Batavia (CCoB)
First Congregational Church of Geneva
United Methodist Church of Geneva
Becoming Oswego
Logan Street Baptist Church
The Rev. David P. Aslesen
Pastor Pat Fish
The Rev. Paige Wolfanger
The Rev. Rob Hamilton
The Rev. Heather Connor
