Norton Working to Ensure No Enactment of Anti-Immigrant D.C. Bill or National Sanctuary City Punishment Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 30, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) issued the following prepared statement for today’s rally with immigration rights groups at the John A. Wilson Building reaffirming the city’s home-rule right to be a sanctuary city and detailing the efforts she is taking to ensure that neither the national anti-immigrant bill, which was passed by the House, or the separate anti-home-rule bill that targets D.C. immigrants becomes law.
Norton’s full statement is below.
“Although I cannot be with you today, I want you to know that I already have begun efforts to see that both the national anti-immigrant bill and the much worse bill that has been introduced targeting D.C. immigrants only will never make it to the President’s desk. I am in touch with our allies in the Senate on both bills. The House bill passed last week to deny certain federal funds to all sanctuary cities almost surely will never pass the Senate. The separate anti-immigrant D.C. bill introduced by Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) is so outrageous, I think I may well be able to keep it from being passed in the House. The D.C. bill fines D.C. public officials up to $10,000 who protect D.C. residents from deportation. We will not allow Republicans to reach undemocratically into our city to deport our hard-working Latino and other immigrants, who contribute so much to our city.
“D.C. is proud to be a sanctuary city. We are proud to stand with our immigrants, documented and undocumented alike. Donald Trump has worked up Republicans around the nation into an anti-immigrant frenzy that the Republican House has been eager to take up. Trump may be in possession of the Old Post Office under a binding contract with the federal government. Today, however, we serve notice that neither the national anti-immigrant bill passed by the House or the D.C. bill that penalizes D.C. because we are a sanctuary city will pass both Houses of Congress and become law.”
