MADISON, WI – State Representative Christian Phelps (D-Eau Claire) joined colleagues in the Capitol Thursday morning to announce the introduction of the Keep Families Together bill package. The five bills in this package would maximize Wisconsin’s avenues to defend immigrant populations and keep families together amid dangerous attacks from federal agents. Rep. Phelps is the lead author on the Communities Not Cages Act (LRB-4475/1), which would ban Wisconsin state or local resources from being used to operate identity-based detentions for immigrants or perceived immigrants.
Rep. Phelps released the following statement:
“Over the past eight months, my constituents have stopped me at events, contacted my office, and shared personal stories of the growing fear and horror that comes with watching the Trump regime abduct, detain, and deport people they perceive to be immigrants without due process, without accountability, often without even showing their faces. In some cases, constituents are working personally with loved ones who have been dealt deportation orders after living in Western Wisconsin for essentially their entire lives.
“This is not an issue isolated to the American southwest, nor to major cities, but to every Assembly district in our state and indeed to my home community in Western Wisconsin. I have heard pleas to ensure that Wisconsin does not become the next Florida and that we allow no chambers intended to hold people based on their identity – based on their immigration story – in the inhumane and dystopian conditions we have seen around the country.
“We urge Governor Evers and all of our colleagues – including Republicans – to recognize the urgency of the need to protect immigrant populations and to use the full power of our offices here in the capitol to do so as the Trump regime grows increasingly more relentless in its threats and attacks. These bills present an opportunity to ensure that Wisconsin holds true to the state our constituents wish for us to be: welcoming, safe, and humane, one that invests in communities, not cages.”
