Congresswoman DeGette Meeting Summary
On August 18th, Jordan, Erika, Dana and Harriet met with Nermina Mujkanovic of Congresswoman DeGette’s staff as the Congresswoman was not able to attend due to the US Postal Service crisis. Erika shared very moving testimony regarding the COVID related challenges she and her family face as immigrants in her district.
On September 8th, Dan, Harriet, Jordan, Jennifer, and Stevie met with Nermina, Constituent Services Director and Congresswoman Diana DeGette. Erika was not able to attend the meeting, however Piper provided her testimony.
Congresswoman DeGette was asked about budget priorities, specifically around defunding hate. She was asked to ensure that money allocated for humanitarian support of immigrants and refugees is not repurposed to further militarize the border. She was also asked to commit to not increasing funding for border enforcement. Congresswoman DeGette responded that she agrees that funding should not be increased for ICE or Border Patrol, but she said she couldn’t commit to how she would vote without seeing the whole bill. She expressed concern that while Congress has been remote, the committee process is limited. Many bills like the HEROES Act do a lot of good even if she doesn’t agree with everything. Congresswoman DeGette did agree to share AFSC’s budget concerns with Speaker Pelosi.
Congresswoman Degette explained that she does not agree that ICE should be eliminated, but she does think we should end private detention contracts like GEO, and that ICE should be reformed and restructured. She doesn’t think anyone should be detained for an immigration offense only, and instead the focus should be on immigrants with criminal offenses.
Congresswoman DeGette was also asked to extend COVID relief efforts to include DACA and TPS, as well as include immigrant families in cash payments. She agreed that we need to not only extend DACA work permits but also create a path to citizenship through comprehensive immigration reform. She agreed with the concerns about the CARES act excluding mixed status families and said this problem was fixed in the HEROES act.
Congresswoman DeGette shared that she considers AFSC one of her primary community advisory groups and thanked us for our work.
Congressman Perlmutter Meeting Summary
On August 25th, Tom, Laura (former constituent), Raquel (constituent), and Jordan met with Congressman Ed Perlmutter and his staff Tia and Jeremy.
Congressman Perlmutter was asked about budget priorities, specifically around defunding hate. He was asked to ensure that money allocated for humanitarian support of immigrants and refugees is not repurposed to further militarize the border. He was also asked to commit to not increasing funding for border enforcement. Congressman Perlmutter’s response focused on the importance of the upcoming election in determining what is possible with funding in the future. Between now and then, the focus will be on COVID relief funding. He committed to continue working on a humane homeland security budget. Current attempts haven’t made it out of committee. Hopefully a positive outcome on Nov. 3 will allow for better modifications.
Congressman Perlmutter was also asked to include immigrants in COVID relief, including extending DACA and TPS work permits, ensuring testing and treatment is available regardless of citizenship status, and offer cash assistance to immigrant and mixed-status families. In response, Congressman Perlmutter and his staff expressed empathy and thanked AFSC for sharing their personal stories which will continue to be important for passing bills like HEROES which did include extended protections for immigrants. Again, they reiterated the importance of winning the November election. That will determine if these asks are possible.
Congressman Perlmutter was asked to sign on to the Dear Colleague letter decrying use of chemicals in immigrant detention. He agreed to take a look at the letter and indicated it was likely he may sign on. The Dear Colleague letter was sent to him in a follow-up email after the meeting; his response is still pending.
Congressman Perlmutter’s staff followed up to share that he is now a co-sponsor of H.R. 2662, the Asylum Seeker Protection Act.
Congressman Crow Meeting Summary
On August 20th, Tom, Raquel, Laura, Wayne, and Jordan met with Congressman Crow and his staff Kevin, Lisette (Congressional Fellow), Daniel (leg assistant healthcare/immigration), and Maytham (CoS).
Congressman Crow was thanked for his recent actions in support of immigrant communities.
Congressman Crow was asked about budget priorities, specifically around defunding hate. For future COVID relief bills, he was asked to vote against any increase in funding for military or immigration enforcement. Rep. Crow wholeheartedly agreed that COVID relief funding should not be used on defense spending. He acknowledged that in order to get another COVID relief package passed, compromise will be necessary. He would rather vote for something even if it isn’t perfect than not get anything passed at all.
Congressman Crow was asked to ensure that money allocated for humanitarian support of immigrants and refugees is not repurposed to further militarize the border. In response, he shared that he has visited the border himself and he validated the concerns about brutality. He stated his belief that federal law enforcement officers should wear body cameras to increase accountability. Again, Congressman Crow expressed uncertainty around how much to compromise when voting, for example when aid packages include defense spending.
Congressman Crow was asked follow up questions about conditions at the GEO detention facility in Aurora (which is in his district), specifically related to concerns that detainees are being physically forced to sign “voluntary” removal forms. In response, Congressman Crow and his team acknowledged the concerns and the need for additional pro bono legal representation, but they also expressed limits around what they can do.
Senator Bennet Meeting Summary
On August 21st, Jennifer, Jordan, Harriet and Ana from COPA met with Senator Bennet’s staff who included: Eva (constituent services), Grishma (legislative counsel) and Brian (legislative director).
We thanked his staff for Senator Bennett’s voice against violations in immigration enforcement and we asked him to go even further and commit to vote against any increases in funding for ICE or CBP. His staff were also asked to share with the Senator that in addressing violations, he should recognize that ICE, CBP, and their contractors like GEO continually demonstrate that they have no respect for human rights and therefore should be dismantled. Testimony regarding the use of toxic chemicals in GEO facilities were shared as further examples.
Senator Bennett’s staff thanked AFSC and COPA for their work and for sharing the stories of directly impacted members, but no direct commitments were made.
We also asked Senator Bennet to call on congress to take action on TPS and consider signing onto a letter Senator Gillibrand is leading to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) regarding their arbitrary rejection of asylum applications. The letter inquires about rejecting asylum applications for egregious and arbitrary reasons, like leaving unnecessary fields blank. On September 17th, Senator Bennet agreed to sign on to the letter.