Tell Congress: Reject Ronald Vitiello's nomination as head of ICE

There are thousands of children still in detention at this moment thanks to Ronald Vitiello

Petition to the Senate: "Reject Ronald Vitiello's nomination to become permanent director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement." Add your name:

The Senate is poised to approve Ronald Vitiello – one of the key players in the Trump policy of tearing families apart – as the permanent head of ICE.1 Even Republican members of Congress saw through Trump's fear-mongering and embarrassed him by rejecting his declaration of a state of emergency at the southern border. So now, the Trump administration is fostering and playing up a sense of crisis in order to justify his authoritarian power grab – orchestrating a nightmare scenario by misallocating resources for political gain. The Senate could vote on Vitiello's nomination any day now, but some Republicans are wavering after the ICE employees' union expressed concerns. We need to speak out now. Tell the Senate: Reject Ronald Vitiello's nomination as permanent head of ICE. Click here to sign the petition. There are thousands of children still in detention at this moment thanks to Ronald Vitiello. We've watched ICE tear gas mothers, children and even toddlers in diapers, children die of severe neglect in ICE and CBP custody, and border agents turn away thousands of migrant refugees escaping violence. We've also watched the Trump administration sabotage the asylum process, divert funds, and illegally deploy the military to the border – all to manufacture a sense of crisis. Ronald Vitiello, as the acting director of ICE since June 2018, is a key cog in this despicable campaign who:2 Implemented and defended Trump's family separation policy. As acting head of ICE, he carried out Trump's orders. He tried to downplay and minimize the horror of separating children from their families in media appearances, and told senators that the policy would continue. Characterized immigrants in a racist way as bearers of crime and disease and called Democrats the “NeoKlanist Party.” Vitiello also participated in an event hosted by FAIR, a group the Southern Poverty Law Center deems a hate group. Oversaw an abusive and deliberately disorganized agency. No person who lost track of children and cannot locate and return them to their family deserves to stay in their job. Even the ICE employees' union – no friend to immigrants – expressed concerns about Vitiello's competence to lead the agency. It is awful that the concerns of the ICE employees' union bothered some Republican senators more than Vitiello's role in separating families – but it gives us a window to prevent him from being confirmed if we act now. Tell the Senate: Reject Ronald Vitiello's nomination as permanent head of ICE. Click the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/vitiello-ice?t=9&akid=32117%2E3130208%2EsrFR6J - Nicole Regalado, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Geneva Sands, "ICE director nominee in limbo after criticism from union," CNN, Feb. 13, 2019. America's Voice, "America’s Voice to Senate: Reject Nomination of Ronald Vitiello – Defending and Implementing Family Separation Should Be Disqualifying," Nov. 15, 2018.

Signatures needed: Tell the Senate to block and resist Thomas Homan as head of ICE

The petition to the Senate reads: “Stand up for the immigrants in your state and obstruct Donald Trump’s deportation agenda. Block and resist xenophobe Thomas Homan’s nomination as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director.” Add your name:

Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are terrorizing immigrants and ripping apart American families. We cannot allow Congress to publicly green light Thomas Homan, the xenophobic extremist who runs Trump’s dangerous deportation machine. Homan has been Trump’s acting ICE director since January 2017, but he is not new to the agency. During the Obama administration, he was the country’s top deporter.1 Now, he’s using his dangerous set of skills to help make Trump’s nightmare of mass deportations a reality. In his first three months as acting director, Homan increased the agency’s arrests of immigrants with no criminal background by 156 percent and unleashed his agents to hunt down immigrants at schools, courthouses and hospitals.2 Trump wants Homan to permanently lead ICE. The Senate must obstruct his plans. Senators are responsible for protecting all of the people in their states, not just the ones who were born in the United States. Blocking Thomas Homan’s confirmation as the permanent head of ICE is a necessary part of that. Tell the Senate: Block and resist xenophobe Thomas Homan’s confirmation as ICE director. Click here to sign the petition. Homan is an anti-immigrant extremist. He believes that all undocumented immigrants are criminals who should live in fear.3 He also wants to take down sanctuary cities and recently called on the Department of Justice to indict elected officials who refuse to help with deportations.4 Homan, as Trump’s acting ICE director, has empowered his officers to use some of the most insidious tactics imaginable to hunt down immigrants. Homan’s ICE agents have: Arrested and detained both parents of a sick infant on their way to the hospital.5 Arrested a 10 year-old girl with cerebral palsy on her way to the hospital.6 Arrested and detained a father outside of his daughter’s school.7 Arrested a transgender domestic abuse survivor at a courthouse while she was requesting a protective order against her abusive ex-partner.8 Immigration enforcement officers also recently locked up a disabled Dreamer and allegedly denied him pain medication and made fun of his disability.9 Trump and Homan are lying when they say that ICE is focused on getting violent criminals out of the country. ICE is a dangerous rogue agency. Its agents are harassing and attacking all immigrants. Recently, more than 70 members of Congress signed a letter calling out the Department of Homeland Security for failing to investigate thousands of sexual assault complaints and other human rights violations filed by immigrants who were detained by ICE over the past decade. ICE agents have reportedly subjected immigrants in their custody to unnecessary strip searches, forced them to eat moldy produce and expired food, and denied pain medication to those with debilitating diseases.10 If the Senate gives Homan permanent jurisdiction over all ICE operations, it would add fuel to an already out-of-control fire and sanction the agency’s shady and abusive tactics. Democrats and Republicans of good conscience have the power to make sure that doesn’t happen. That's why we're teaming up with our friends at America's Voice to make sure they act. Tell the Senate: Block and resist xenophobe Thomas Homan’s confirmation as ICE director. Click the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/homan?t=7&akid=26785%2E3130208%2EX7WPVk Nicole Regalado CREDO Action Add your name: References: Lisa Rein, "Meet the man the White House has honored for deporting illegal immigrants," The Washington Post, April 27, 2016. Roque Planas and Elise Foley, " Deportations Of Noncriminals Rise As ICE Casts Wider Net," HuffPost, Dec. 5, 2017. Brett Samuels, "Trump taps Thomas Homan as ICE director," The Hill, Nov. 14, 2017. Josh Israel, "Acting ICE director wants to ignore Constitution, arrest local leaders for sanctuary city policies," ThinkProgress, Jan. 2, 2018. John Burnett, "Border Patrol Arrests Parents While Infant Awaits Serious Operation," NPR, Sept. 20, 2017. Marwa Eltagouri, "A 10-year-old immigrant was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. She was detained on the way." The Washington Post, Oct. 27, 2017. Ray Sanchez, "ICE arrests undocumented father taking daughter to California school," CNN, March 3, 2017. Jonathan Blitzer, "The woman arrested by ICE in a courthouse speaks out," The New Yorker, Feb. 23, 2017. Elise Foley, "Trump Administration Detaining DACA Recipient With Disability," HuffPost, Nov. 13, 2017. Anna Nunez, "Inhumane Human Rights Violations Found at U.S. Immigration Detention Centers," America's Voice, Dec. 19, 2017.