I am writing to demand that you vote NO on H.R. 3486. This bill represents one of the most dangerous and shameful attacks on immigrant communities we have seen in years. It drastically increases criminal penalties for people whose only “offense” is how they entered the United States.
Let’s be clear: this bill would supercharge mass incarceration and funnel even more people of color into private prisons. It would impose extreme sentences – including life sentences – on asylum seekers, teenagers, and families simply trying to reunite. This is not justice. It is cruelty codified into law.
At a time when real emergencies demand attention and resources, H.R. 3486 would divert public funds into the failed federal prison system. It does nothing to improve public safety; instead, it entrenches racial disparities and further militarizes our already broken immigration system.
Congress should be working to strengthen communities, protect families, and uphold due process – not hand the Trump administration new tools to vilify, deport, and incarcerate with impunity. This bill is nothing more than an extension of mass detention and mass punishment.
Your duty is to protect the people – all people – living in this country. That means rejecting legislation that criminalizes migration, tears families apart, and undermines justice. I urge you in the strongest possible terms to block H.R. 3486 and stop this dangerous expansion of mass incarceration.
If you support this bill, you will be complicit in inflicting life-destroying harm on immigrant families and in further eroding the values you claim to uphold. I expect you to do the right thing: reject H.R. 3486 and stand against the politics of fear and punishment.