The images of armed, masked men snatching people off the street is no longer something we associate with a third world dictatorship; it’s happening in our communities. We have an Executive branch that willingly disappears not just hardened criminals, but ordinary residents and yes even American citizens and refuses to return them even under court order. Our broken immigration system has been used as justification for the President to use his private police force to arrest people without warrants and detain them indefinitely without due process.

This is unacceptable

We can have strong borders while also having immigration enforcement that respects people’s rights. We can have an immigration system that allows people their day in court without having to wait years to plead their case. We can give honest, hardworking people who’ve been contributing members of their communities for years a pathway to citizenship that is fair and equitable. We can address the core drivers of undocumented immigration in foreign countries so people feel safe remaining there and not paying billion-dollar drug cartels and human traffickers to enter our country.

Here’s how:

• Effective border control resources to ensure a controlled but safe border along with a threefold increase in federally appointed immigration judges to hear cases

• Amnesty for any undocumented person living continuously in the United States for 10 years or having lived for a cumulative total of 15 years and with no criminal history for crimes with a minimum punishment of less than 3 months of jail or under a $15,000 fine

• Abolishing ICE 

• Expansion of Border Patrol to assume ICE former responsibilities

• Cohesive partnerships with top 20 nations undocumented migrants come from to address key factors that drive migration