On Tuesday, more than 150 organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging him to issue ‘clear guidance that DHS shall not use any abortion care-related arrest or conviction as a basis for any immigration enforcement action, nor shall the agency consider it a barrier to any form of immigration relief.’
The advocacy groups point out that as states pass laws that criminalize receiving, providing, and aiding access to abortion care, noncitizens face the additional threat of deportation. Accordingly, the letter makes the following asks of Secretary Mayorkas:
- issue guidance that ensures pregnant people held in custody have timely access to abortion care and any other reproductive health care they may require.
- DHS should enable patients to access abortion care out of state or country and return to the U.S. without risk of detention or enforcement.
Following the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, President Biden has promised to do “all in his power” to protect pregnant people’s rights and directed his administration to take steps to do the same.
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