Councilmember Mai Vang condemns racial profiling of Afghan families.Stands with Communities.

Targeting and detaining Afghan community members under false pretenses is racial profiling, an abuse of power, and fundamentally un-American. This entire year, ICE has terrorized our neighbors and put families in danger with their masked kidnappings. Now their racial profiling tactics have turned to our Afghan siblings, so I join them in demanding the immediate release of our neighbors and I will fight this authoritarian administration with everything I have.

Sacramento believes in dignity, fairness, and the right to live without fear. ICE’s actions are an assault on who we are as a community. 

Our Afghan neighbors came here seeking safety. Many risked their lives alongside U.S. forces. ICE’s tactic of luring them into fake “appointments” only to detain them is a direct betrayal of trust and an attack on refugee families.

As the daughter of refugees, I know what it looks like when government agencies weaponize fear. Over the last two decades, Democrats and Republicans in Congress have allowed ICE’s budget to triple–setting the stage for this type of dangerous and unchecked family separation. I will not stay silent while Sacramento families are traumatized, while children wonder if their parents will come home, and while an entire community is targeted because of where they come from.

I stand with our Afghan neighbors, with organizers, and with every family harmed by these unlawful detentions. We demand transparency, answers, and accountability now. Racial profiling has no place in our city — not today, not ever.

To our Afghan community:

You are not alone. We see you. We are fighting with you. 

— Councilmember Mai Vang