#EndTitle42 – INDIVISIBLE VENTURA

Action #1: Tell Governor Newsom to publicly support the Vision Act!
Action #2: Pass H.R. 1177/S.348 – U.S. Citizenship Act NOW!
Action #3: Carmen cared about families and children. Ask to pass H.R.2766/S.1375 – Families Belong Together Act in her name.

Last week, our much loved and respected Ventura County supervisor Carmen Ramirez tragically died in a traffic accident. She tirelessly spoke at every local event in support of environmental justice, homeless rights, abortion rights, immigration rights and the needs of the communities she served. Before becoming the first Latina in county history to become an elected supervisor, and the first Latina chairwoman of the board, Ramirez had been, for a time, the president of the Ventura County Bar Assn. and was later elected to the State Bar of California’s board of governors— now called the board of trustees. She also served as a longtime board member for the Center for Civic Education, a nonprofit that promotes the study and practice of democracy, and was appointed to the Commission on State Mandates by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 2012.

She had so much more planned, and now it’s on us to carry it through.

Action #1: Tell Governor Newsom to publicly support the Vision Act!

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“Deterrence is effective in inverse proportion to the desperation of the migrants. What we’re seeing is a much, much, much more desperate group of migrants coming to the border….if they truly believe that they will be killed, or their children will be murdered, it’s hard to deter against that.” (Theresa Cardinal Brown, Bipartisan Policy Center – “Will an Emergency Law Used to Keep Out Migrants Become Permanent?)

Although the CDC announced the end of Title 42 in spring of 2022 as “no longer necessary” to protect public health, a federal judge blocked ending the policy in May, revealing what should have been evident all along – Title 42 was never about COVID-19 or public health – it was always about border control.

Worried that the court’s block could fail, conservative lawmakers are attempting to override the CDC and public health experts by passing legislation that would continue Title 42 expulsions indefinitely. One example – S.4022, proposed by Idaho’s senators and Florida’s Rubio, states who took few precautions against COVID, would extend this inhumane policy until right after the 2024 presidential election.

Meanwhile, Title 42 continues to have devastating consequences for asylum seekers who have already faced grave harm – including death, abduction, torture, and rape, which disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and LGTBQ+ migrants.