Target: Kristi Noem, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security
Goal: Cease unlawful detention and racial profiling of Americans.
Several sections of the Constitution have gone missing from a website serving as the official portal of the U.S. government. While the Library of Congress attributes the disappeared information to a “coding error,” the content of said deletions has raised eyebrows. Missing sections from Article I include passages related to Congressional powers, state powers, and habeas corpus (a legal concept relating to unlawful detention). All of these issues have been points of contention and attempted erosion during the second Trump administration, particularly the latter in regard to detainment of immigrants and, in some cases, lifelong American citizens. A key adviser in the administration had even threatened to suspend habeas corpus altogether.
Increasing reports are emerging of individuals being apprehended and harassed at their places of work, in the streets, and even in their homes for no other apparent reason than they “look” Hispanic. Even native indigenous Americans (the only people in the nation not descended from immigrants) have been caught up in these raids. Early in the administration, officials issued advisories to immigrants to carry proof of citizenship with them at all times: enforcement of an antiquated law that had fallen out of favor decades ago. And unless individuals questioned can produce a green card (or other documents that many immigrants keep in lockboxes), they can be detained indefinitely. And for American-born citizens who are detained, they must produce a birth certificate on-site or else they may face the same limbo.
Sign the petition below to demand leaders stop abusing their authority to racially profile and terrorize entire law-abiding communities.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Secretary Noem,
“Show me your papers”: this phrase has a charged history in America. Former slaves who had “earned” what should have been granted to them naturally – their freedom – had to carry documents with them at all times proving they no longer “belonged” to other people. And if they didn’t have those documents…
Fast-forward a couple of centuries, and one must ask how much this nation’s leaders know its own history. Once again, people living in America – many for their entire lives – are being confronted with the same ominous line. And if they have their green cards under lock and key, if they have misplaced or lost a piece of paper, or if they can’t pull their birth certificates out of their wallets or purses…
Americans may support action on immigration, but they have not supported in large numbers the apprehension of their neighbors, friends, family members, and tribes for speeding tickets, for speaking out, or for the “crime” of being or even appearing to be a certain ethnicity. Meeting a quota will never be worth destroying lives and instilling fear in communities. Stop the rhetoric, stop the memes, and stop using terror for show.
Don’t suspend habeas corpus. Suspend the draconian tactics that made it a necessity for America’s founding fathers.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
