LWVUS joined a sign-on letter to Congress urging them to codify guidance to protect "sensitive locations" during immigration enforcement.
February 10, 2026
Dear Members of Congress,
As Congress negotiates any funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), it must establish meaningful oversight to ensure community safety and accountability for the harmful and abusive immigration enforcement actions taking place across the country. Legislation must have consequences for immigration enforcement officers who violate the law and protections for individuals who are victims of those violations. Without meaningful guardrails that end the violence, Congress must not vote to continue the status quo.
One meaningful way to protect communities is to codify guidance on immigration enforcement near so-called “sensitive locations.” This commonsense, historically bipartisan, and widely-supported policy would limit immigration enforcement in sensitive locations like schools, child care facilities, health care and public health facilities, and places of worship, among other critical locations for individual and community wellbeing. Congress can incorporate the protections included in the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act (H.R.1061/ S.455) into DHS spending legislation. It is not the only solution that must be included to protect our communities, but an important one that will help promote stability and safety.
Limiting immigration enforcement in and near sensitive locations provides children and families, regardless of immigration status, with a greater sense of security in the places they access every day.
The sensitive locations policy allows:
● Educators, caregivers, health care and public health workers, faith leaders, and other providers the ability to focus on their important work, instead of having to prepare for disruptive and traumatizing immigration enforcement actions in the spaces that represent key pillars of community life.
● Children to go to child care and school without worrying that they, their friends, or their parents will be targeted in the places they learn because of the way they look or their accents.
● Parents to go to work and not have to worry about their children’s child care providers being targeted or schools going into lock down because of nearby ICE activity.
● Patients to go to the hospital, doctor’s office, or seek other health services without fear that they may be profiled and separated from their family.
● Families to have the freedom to worship without fear.
For over three decades, through Republican and Democratic administrations, the federal government recognized the importance of community safety and wellbeing in limiting immigration enforcement in certain locations. The decision from the Trump Administration to rescind the long-standing policy has created chaos for all of our communities. As a result, children, families, providers, and entire communities have been assaulted and harassed by immigration enforcement agents in previously sensitive locations.
The administration’s reckless and indiscriminate immigration enforcement has resulted in an increasing number of incidents in sensitive locations. In just the first few weeks of this year, the Trump administration has continued to disregard longstanding protections for sensitive locations. Schools in cities across the country have gone into lockdown because of the presence of immigration enforcement officers, with the trauma extending beyond children in immigrant families to all children in these communities. There are reports daily of ICE and CBP presence in sensitive locations. For example, they detained a family, including seven-year-old Diana Crespo Gonzalez, outside a hospital where the family had gone to get emergency care for the child. And they intimidated community members outside of a church, and ultimately deported a church worker.
These actions are harmful to immigrant children and families, but also to our entire communities, our economy, our workforce, and our collective health and wellbeing, and the harm will not stop until Congress takes action to ensure these locations are safe again. We appreciate the many Members of Congress who have already identified this as a priority in these funding negotiations. We urge you to incorporate the protections included in the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act which is endorsed by over 800 national, state, and local organizations and supported by the general public.
This is a moment to make meaningful change to protect children and families. We urge you to stand strong with all of our communities who are looking to their members of Congress to protect their rights and ability to live in peace and thrive.
Sincerely,
See Attached for List of Signatories