Los Angeles, CA – In response to the California State Senate failing to pass the VISION Act, Professor Hiroshi Motomura, Faculty Co-Director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at the UCLA School of Law, released the following statement: 

“Today, California state legislators missed a crucial opportunity to confront the racism embedded in our state’s immigration laws, a decision that will harm California’s immigrant families and communities and perpetuate a shameful legacy of racial animus guiding state policies on immigration.  

“Earlier this month, we sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom and state senators outlining our research unearthing the sordid, racist history of the nation’s early deportation laws – laws that were rooted in anti-AAPI racism and that continue to harm AAPI, Latinx, and Black communities to this day. Our letter also described the overwhelming empirical evidence establishing that federal immigration enforcement of the kind that the VISION Act would curtail does nothing to enhance public safety.  

“We are deeply disappointed that the senators who voted against the VISION Act ignored the racist origins of the policies that California communities are working tirelessly to end, as well as the evidence showing they do not work. California’s leaders must take a stand against the ways that our state policies perpetuate racism in our immigration system, or they are complicit in extending this shameful legacy.” 

Founded in 2020, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at the UCLA School of Law expands the law school's role as a national leader in immigration law and policy, generating innovative ideas at the intersection of immigration scholarship and practice and serving as a hub for transforming those ideas into meaningful changes in immigration policy. 

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