Recognize the Humanity of Everyone Who Calls DC Home
By Abel Nunez
[Editor’s Note: On October 1, the DC City Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety held a hearing on the Sanctuary Values Amendment Act. The proposed permanent legislation would prevent DC agencies, including the DC Jail and Metropolitan Police Department, from collaborating with ICE to facilitate the detention and deportation of immigrants. In October 2019, the DC Council approved a temporary version of the bill. The current Sanctuary Values Amendment Act, if passed, would become a permanent law. Portions of the below statement were made during the hearing.]
Good afternoon Chairman Allen, members of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, and staff.
Thank you for the opportunity to allow me to testify before you today. My name is Abel Nunez, and I am the Executive Director of the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN). As an immigrant from El Salvador that came to the US in the late 70’s and grew in the District, I believe this legislation represents the best of DC.
For 39 years CARECEN has focused on the comprehensive development of the Latino population by providing direct services, while promoting grassroots empowerment, civic engagement, and human rights advocacy. We support immigrants to increase their success in their new community.
According to the American Immigration Council, the District of Columbia has a sizable community of immigrants, many of whom emigrated from El Salvador. Roughly 14 percent of DC’s population was born in another country and foreign-born residents make up a vital, educated share of the District’s labor force. Nearly three-fifths of immigrants in DC possess a college or higher degree, while more than four-fifths report speaking English well.
As an immigrant from El Salvador that came to the US in the late 70’s and grew in the District, I believe this legislation represents the best of DC.
Immigrants support the DC economy in various ways — from starting new businesses in the region to making up more than a quarter of all Washingtonians working in the life, physical, and social sciences. As neighbors, business owners, taxpayers, and workers, immigrants are an integral part of DC’s diverse and thriving communities and make extensive contributions that benefit all.
Currently, the President and his administration are scapegoating immigrants to score political points with their base. They are more concerned with his re-election than the wellbeing of families. We all want to build a better future for our communities. The Sanctuary Values Amendment Act speaks more to our DC values and our vision for our city than any remedies that the city may offer to counteract the attacks by the current administration. We recognize the humanity of everyone who calls DC home, we are called to stand up for our values of compassion, common humanity, and racial justice.
As an organization that serves the immigrant community, we know the fear from the constant threat of detention and deportation that our members live with. We know that deportation could mean tearing families apart and subjecting them to danger — even death — if they are sent home to their country of origin. For many years, when an immigrant came into contact with DC’s criminal legal system, the jail would call ICE to detain and deport them. This means contact with the police in DC can lead to deportation. While the debate continues at the federal level about the changes needed in our immigration system, DC should focus on citizens’ safety and its police should not be used as an extension of federal immigration enforcement.
The Sanctuary Values Amendment Act needs to be approved because it would permanently end the practice of DC agencies acting as deportation agents by handing off DC residents to ICE and by sharing data and information that helps ICE detain DC residents, thus allowing immigrants to safely return to their community.
CARECEN is here today to support the Sanctuary Values Amendment Act as it will help keep communities together and help preserve vital due process protections for everyone, including immigrants.
Thank you.
