A press conference was held at the State Capitol Building this morning to protest against proposed anti-immigrant bills Assembly Bill 450 and Senate Bill 533.
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, founding Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera, introduced numerous Latino community members who gave their personal accounts on how these bills would affect their day-to-day lives.
Madison Alder Shiva Bidar told the crowd that she wanted to continue to be that city that really welcomes everyone as part of the city. “We ask the state to focus on other priorities and let us continue to have local control over what we think is best for the residents of the city of Madison,” Bidar said. “Our law enforcement agencies are employees of the city of Madison. Our non-profit partners all want to continue working to make sure that we welcome immigrants and that we continue together to raise our voices to make sure we have good and comprehensive immigration reform at the national level.”
The AB 450 bill has been tabled by the Committee on Urban and Local Affairs and a scheduled hearing is pending once they decide when to bring up the bill for discussion again. The bill would prohibit cities and townships from creating sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants and preventing policies prohibiting police or public employees from asking the legal status of immigrants. It would also fined cities and townships up to $5,000 a day and anyone could request an investigation and file a legal court action on policies that prohibit public employees and police from reporting undocumented immigrants to the U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The SB 533 bill prohibits any city and state county from establishing an identification card. The State of Wisconsin provides state ID’s and licenses to drive, but does not allow undocumented immigrants to apply for them.
“The two bills that are currently being proposed are really a way to take attention away from real immigration reform. We want to build trust with the immigrant community,” Bidar said. “Local IDs are a way to build trust with our communities. It’s a way to make sure that everybody in our community has a way to identify themselves and a way for them to feel a part of our community. We hope that the state will listen to our voices at the local level. We know what’s best for our communities.”
Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said that the issue is very topical and very concerning to him as Chief of Police. “Normally, we are not intrinsically involved in the bi-partisan elements of politics. But when politics goes up against good, sound local public policy, I have to stop from being silent and be a vocal person strenuously objecting to the slippery slope of this sort of legislation,” Koval said. “I’m concerned that this will not create radical changes but will send a message – a message that couldn’t come at a more debilitating time for the people in our community.”
Koval said that the police mission statement says that they are there to provide quality services to the community and that those services are for everyone. “We’re about protecting people’s rights,” he said. “What these bills have done unwittingly is create these unintended consequences of once again marginalizing contributing elements of our community and setting them aside and vilifying and demonizing [them].”
The vote will take place today at 1 p.m.
