AOC, Dozens of House Dems Cite ‘Racial Reckoning’ to Oppose Targeting Gang Members for Deportation

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., led a group of her House Democratic colleagues in a letter to federal immigration officials demanding an overhaul of immigration policies and objecting to gang members in the country illegally being targeted for deportation.

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The lawmakers claim an interim enforcement memo issued by ICE “does not adequately protect the liberty interests of asylum seekers” and presumes an illegal migrant — including those convicted of aggravated felonies —to be a “border security and enforcement and removal priority.”

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Additionally, the letter claims the “definition of an aggravated felony” is a “relic of the racist War on Drugs” {snip}

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The lawmakers also claimed the memo “invites racial profiling” by making a migrant who has been convicted of actively or intentionally participating in gang activity a “public safety enforcement and removal priority.”

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“It is well documented that law enforcement’s practices of labelling people as gang-involved is often faulty, based on arbitrary and racist factors, and not subject to due process,” the lawmakers claimed.

“We are in a moment of racial reckoning in this country, with communities across the country calling for an end to mass incarceration and racist policing,” the group continued. “It is time to end the carceral approach to immigration, which relies on these same flawed systems.”

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