We Deserve an Immigrant Bill Of Rights
We must protect Immigrants, not deport Immigrants.
ICE is terrorizing neighborhoods across the district and our country with masks, without names, without accountability. Windows shattered. Families dragged from homes into unmarked vehicles. No badges. No explanations. If you have to hide to do your job, get a new one! There is no secret police in a democracy. And yet here we are.
The Laken Riley Act is the very first bill that Trump signed into law. It increases deportations, ends due process and mandates detention based on arrest—not conviction. It strips judges of discretion. It expands ICE's power without accountability. It does not make communities safer. It makes racial profiling routine. It tells immigrant families: if you call 911, if you show up to court, if you seek help, you could lose everything.
Ritchie Torres voted Yes for the Laken Riley Act.
Michael Blake, a son of immigrants, proposes an Immigrant Bill of Rights, a people-first framework to protect immigrant families in The Bronx.
The Immigrant Bill of Rights
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Any ICE or Border Patrol agent who commits a crime must be investigated, charged, and prosecuted under the law—no immunity, no special treatment.
All officer-involved shootings and incidents involving excessive force must trigger an immediate, third-party investigation—without internal interference or delays.
Create a mandatory, public registry of substantiated misconduct so an agent’s past behavior follows them and is reviewed before any future hiring by federal, state, or local agencies.
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Repeal the Laken Riley Act in full. End mandatory detention based on arrest alone. Rein in unchecked deportation powers so that judges—not politicians—decide individual cases based on evidence, circumstances, and the law.
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Enforce New York’s anti-mask law against federal agents operating in public, with narrow, case-specific safety exceptions
Require clear, visible identification for all public enforcement actions
Establish legally protected Safe Havens at schools, hospitals, courts, shelters, and houses of worship
Advance the ICE Firewall Act to draw a hard, enforceable line between community safety and deportation enforcement
Protect. Don’t deport. Defend rights.
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Ensure legal representation for every person in immigration proceedings. End indefinite detention by establishing clear time limits. Restore fairness and consistency to a system that has abandoned both.
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End family separation as policy or practice. Protect parents and caregivers from deportation that would leave U.S. citizen children behind. Prioritize family reunification across all immigration policy decisions.
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Defend Temporary Protected Status for workers who have built lives and contributed to our communities. Enforce labor rights regardless of immigration status. Crack down on wage theft and unsafe working conditions. Ensure that workers can report abuse without risking deportation.
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Ban local data sharing with ICE or DHS without a warrant. Safeguard information held by schools, hospitals, housing agencies, and nonprofits so that personal data collected to help people is never weaponized against them.
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Guarantee access to emergency healthcare, housing assistance, disaster relief, and protection for survivors of domestic violence and workplace abuse—without the threat of deportation. No one should have to choose between seeking help and keeping their family together.
This is what safety actually looks like.
Safety is not more detention or more fear. Safety is families staying together, workers protected, survivors seeking help, and communities trusting public institutions again.
While The Bronx struggles with crumbling NYCHA buildings, rising rents, and underfunded schools, Ritchie Torres found urgency for ICE expansion and foreign weapons. He found billions for overseas wars but could not find urgency for the 15th District.
The Bronx is not an afterthought. It is global, working-class, and immigrant-powered. You do not build safety by treating your neighbors like suspects. You do not build prosperity by terrorizing the people who keep this borough running.
Prosecute ICE. Protect immigrants. Repeal the Laken Riley Act. Pass an Immigrant Bill of Rights.
Why Did Rep. Ritchie Torres Side With ICE? Demand answers.
Ritchie Torres voted for the Laken Riley Act—a bill that guts due process—and then turned around to show gratitude to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency terrorizing immigrant communities.
Our communities deserve accountability. Call Rep. Torres’ office and demand to know why he chose ICE over human dignity—and why he refuses to protects families, due process, and our Constitution.
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