Policy Resolution IAF-26-05

WHEREAS, America is home to more immigrants than any other country, and our prosperity and safety are strengthened—never diminished—by policies that honor constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection;

WHEREAS, in June 2025, a new federal travel ban barred entry for nationals of multiple countries, overwhelmingly non-European, echoing earlier nationality-based restrictions popularly known as the “Muslim Ban,” which sparked protracted litigation culminating in Hawaii V. Trump;

WHEREAS, the revived policy again punishes people for the color of their skin complexion, as anything other than White has historically been deemed dangerous;

WHEREAS, at the same time, the Trump administration has prioritized refugee admissions for White Afrikaners from South Africa, publicly directing agencies to “promote the resettlement of White Afrikaner refugees,” while pausing or constricting refugee pathways from war-torn and disaster-stricken non-White nations;

WHEREAS, such race-selective preferences invert America’s humanitarian tradition and send an unmistakable message about who is welcome;

WHEREAS, according to federal notices and media reporting throughout 2025, the Trump administration has moved to terminate or curtail Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of majority non-White refugees, placing long-settled families at risk of removal despite unambiguous evidence of extreme violence and instability in their countries of origin;

WHEREAS, according to the American Immigration Council, detention levels have surged to record highs, with nearly 59,000 people in ICE custody in August of 2025, approaching contracted capacity nationwide, while newly constructed and proposed facilities designed to expand the Trump Administration’s detention and deportation operations compound potentially irreparable harm to individuals, families, and communities;

WHEREAS, the United States has previously enacted grave, discriminatory policies later recognized as betrayals of our values and morals, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans under Executive Order 9066, and we must not repeat such errors under new guises;

WHEREAS, history warns that regimes have once codified racial hierarchies into law, transforming prejudice into state policy;

WHEREAS, the 1935 Nuremberg Race Laws are an enduring caution against any government that defines belonging by blood, religion, or doctrine rather than human dignity; and

WHEREAS, engraved in bronze at the base of the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” a promise this nation must keep in practice, not only in poetry.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) urges the Trump administration, state governments, and immigrant rights organizations to treat all immigrants, regardless of race or country of origin, equally and provide them with the same level of services with dignity and humanity;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL condemns immigration actions that discriminate by nationality, race, or religion, including the June 2025 entry ban and any race-preferential refugee admissions, as NBCSL believes and supports the Constitution’s guarantees of due process and equal protection and with America’s humanitarian obligations regardless of immigration status;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL urges the President of the United States to rescind the June 2025 entry ban; abandon nationality-based restrictions; and restore individualized, evidence-based vetting;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL is opposed to using National Guard and members of the U.S. Military to support immigration enforcement inside the United States as the  troops are not trained to be immigration officers; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and other federal and state government officials as appropriate.

• Resolution ID: IAF-26-05
• Sponsored by: Assem. Corey Jackson (CA)
• Policy Committee: International Affairs Policy Committee