FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

September 15, 2022

MEDIA CONTACT: 

e: clarke.comms@mail.house.gov

c: 347.387.5123

Washington, DC — Today, Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) led 33 of her Congressional colleagues in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus expressing the Members’ grave concern over the Biden Administration’s detainment and deportation policies and their potential impact for individuals seeking abortion care or suspected of seeking abortion care.

“We are amidst a war on people’s reproductive rights and freedoms. No one should be worried that an immigration official at the U.S. border will ask irrelevant, inappropriate and invasive

questions relating to their reproductive health and/or whether they will be penalized depending on their answers. Whether someone is pregnant, is seeking an abortion, or has obtained abortions in the past is not relevant while determining an individual’s admissibility. Further, in states like Texas where abortion has been heavily banned and is also home to several ports of entry and federal detention facilities, it is especially important that the Administration make all necessary efforts to ensure access to abortion and reproductive care as part of its whole of government response, including for people who are immigrants,” wrote the Members.

Congresswoman Clarke was joined by her following colleagues: Reps. Velázquez (NY-07), Brown (MD-04), Williams (GA-05), Chu (CA-27), Adams (NC-12), Meng (NY-06), Bonamici (OR-01), Grijalva (AZ-03), Maloney (NY-12), Holmes Norton (DC), Jackson Lee (TX-18), Dean (PA-01), Deutch (FL-22), Tlaib (MI-13), Jacobs (CA-53), Johnson (GA-04), Barragán (CA-44), Levin (MI-09), Lee (CA-13), Espaillat (NY-13), Quigley (IL-05), McGovern (MA-02), Jones (NY-10), Moore (WI-04), Wilson (FL-24), Bowman (NY-13-), Evans (PA-03), Bush (MO-01), Kirkpatrick (AZ-02), Torres (CA-35), Takano (CA-41), Watson Coleman (NJ-12)

The full letter text is available here.

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Yvette D. Clarke has been in Congress since 2007. She represents New York’s Ninth Congressional District, which includes Central and South Brooklyn. Clarke is a Senior Member of both the House Energy and Commerce Committee and House Committee on Homeland Security, where she serves as Chair of the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation Subcommittee.