ACLU: Roadmap to CitizenshipClear the Road to Citizenship The immigration reform bill introduced recently in the Senate (S. 744) has the potential to be a historic breakthrough for the civil rights and liberties of immigrants and all Americans. Only by putting the 11 million people on the roadmap to citizenship will our nation avoid establishing a permanent “underclass” living without the Constitution’s full protections. .

The road to citizenship should be open to everyone unless a person poses a current threat to public safety based on a serious or violent felony conviction. Automatically excluding people with old or minor misdemeanors (like driving without a license or civil violations based on one’s undocumented status) and minor drug offenses is a direct contradiction to this country’s promise of opportunity and equality.

No state has more to gain—or to lose—in this debate than California. Leaders on both sides of the aisle unite in saying that immigration reform should keep families together and bring as many people as possible out of the shadows. Many aspiring citizens in California live in mixed-status families. Our state is home to more than two million undocumented immigrants and nearly one quarter of the nation’s undocumented children. Almost half of California’s children have at least one immigrant parent.

“Our economy and our public safety depend on getting it right,” said Nathan Fletcher, senior director of corporate development at Qualcomm. “We have an historic opportunity to show that in the United States, we value hard work, taking care of families, and looking out for each other.”

Clear and Reasonable StandardsRecent polls show that an overwhelming majority of the American people agree that immigration reform should include a roadmap to citizenship for immigrants, as well as a process that is fair and respects civil rights and liberties.

We all benefit when aspiring citizens are able to come out of the shadow and fully contribute to our communities.

Providing a roadmap to citizenship to residents makes it easier for them to cooperate with law enforcement and allays their real fear of having their families split apart if they interact with law enforcement.

Clear and reasonable standards can be set to ensure that candidates with only minor criminal records are not barred from legalization and full participation in our communities. Because the way crimes are defined differ by each state, reform measures must recognize this, and develop a fair, national standard that is clear to all aspiring citizen applicants.

The legislation should also build in a safety waiver so that each individual’s case can be reviewed to prevent exclusions that present undo hardship to the family based on past or irrelevant crimes.

San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore, joined by scores of law enforce-ment, business, faith, and labor leaders, including businessman Nathan Fletcher, far right, calling for a n inclusive roadmap to citizenship for the 11 million aspiring citizens living in the U.S.

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End Flawed EnforcementEvery day, aspiring citizens live with the fear that they or a family member may be detained and deported. This fear is heightened by programs such as Operation Stonegarden, included in the Senate bill, which provides funds to pay for immigration-related costs to local law enforcement agencies along the border.

There have been serious abuses in this supposed collaboration, and Congress needs to make clear differentiation between local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement. S. 744 calls on the government to spend billions of dollars in taxpayer money to further diminish civil liberties at the border with surveillance and checkpoints, even when prior security benchmarks have already been met and resources invested there are at an all-time high. The border region is already rife with civil liberties abuses committed by law enforcement. The bill makes mandatory a costly, insecure system to verify employment (E-Verify) that puts citizens at risk of losing their jobs and raises significant civil liberties concerns.

We must move our nation away from Arizona-style enforcement, which leads to racial profiling and harassment of people who look or sound “foreign.” We must fight every step of the way to ensure that immigration reform achieves what the American people want—as poll after poll shows: a roadmap to citizenship for immigrants, and an immigration system that is fair and respects our civil rights and civil liberties.

KEY ACLU ASKS onCITIZENSHIP ROADMAP

No Enforcement TriggersThe Senate’s bill (S. 744) must not depend on enforcement triggers, such as arbitrary measures for border security. Everyone should be placed on the roadmap to citizenship except those who pose a current threat to public safety based on a serious violent felony conviction.

Create Inclusive Pathway The bill should be as broad and inclusive as possible to guarantee fairness in the immigration process. Currently the bill wrongfully excludes LGBT families and contains new enforcement provisions that will continue to tear families apart. Also, S.744 contains stringent employment and income tests that are at odds with the realities of our workforce.

No Hurdles for Old or Minor CrimesOur criminal justice system is premised on rehabilitation and the ability of those who have served their sentences to fully reintegrate into society. The bill should narrowly define “aggravated felony” and “term of imprisonment.” It should authorize waivers for offenses within a certain time period, for immigration status-related offenses, and/or where rehabilitation is shown.

Safeguarding CommunitiesA broad and inclusive road to citizenship avoids excluding contributing immigrants based on biased profiling. To avoid this, S.744 should narrowly define gang affiliation and national security concerns. Individuals should have the right to be heard on a case by case basis.

The ACLU of California represents 100,000 dedicated members and 130 staff members in every county in California ACLUofNorthernCaliforniawww.aclunc.org ACLUofSanDiego&ImperialCountieswww.aclusandiego.org ACLUofSouthernCaliforniawww.aclu-sc.org

“When officers can speak freely with

victims and witnesses, it goes a long way

toward making every American neighborhood

much safer.”- William Bratton, then Police Chief, Los Angeles Police Department