H.R. 5717, Dealing with Federal Funding for States and Localities

September 20, 2024 | H.R. 5717

Immigration enforcement is important, but singlemindedly prioritizing it over public safety and other law enforcement, as this bill does, is a terrible mistake. Despite being promoted as a vehicle to reduce crime, this bill would have quite the opposite effect. 

Put simply, when working people fear immigration consequences for engaging with local authorities, they are less likely to report crimes. In just one alarming illustration of the far-reaching consequences of this approach, a recent study of counties that actively cooperate with federal immigration enforcement documented a nearly 50% drop in reporting of workplace health and safety violations in key industries, and a corresponding increase in workplace injuries by roughly 24%. Clearly, when we allow conditions in which workers are afraid to file claims, we endanger workers physically and deepen the risk of other such workplace crimes as wage theft, discrimination and sexual harassment, which already are far too common.

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