WASHINGTON, DC — Today, League of Women Voters CEO Celina Stewart, Esq. joined Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (IL-3), leaders from Common Cause, LULAC, and the NAACP to share their collective demands to Congress in the wake of continued killings of Americans at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Below are her remarks, which can also be viewed here:
"Thank you so much Virgina, and thank you all for being here. I just want to thank Virginia and Common Cause for her leadership, and also Roman & Juan at LULAC, and Derrick just for consistently helping create a center of gravity where people can understand what’s going on—plan, and act together, so I’m just very grateful for this group in particular that whenever we send out a bat signal, the answer is “yes, what do you need me to do?” So I just appreciate that.
"The League of Women Voters is proud to stand alongside Common Cause, LULAC, and NAACP, because moments like this really demand coalition, not a collection of individual organizational contributors. We’re stronger together. Democracy, we know, cannot be defended by any one organization. It really requires trusted institutions stepping into this role with clarity, courage, and really care.
"What we’re seeing in Minnesota is not isolated as we heard Roman say. It’s a testing ground. For months, communities in Minnesota and across the country have lived in fear as federal immigration enforcement has escalated and now has become deadly. I think civilians have been not only detained, but denied basic constitutional rights, as Edwin mentioned. Peaceful protestors have been killed for exercising their freedoms to gather, to protest, and to express dissent with their government, which they have the full right and authority to do.
"I’ve been in close conversation with our Minnesota leaders as well, Amy Perna and Laura Helmer, and our local League in Minneapolis. I feel like they have shown extraordinary leadership by stepping up in this critical moment. But I also just want to express really deep appreciation to the clergy who showed up to offer moral clarity and courage in this moment but also the many, many volunteer-led coordination efforts that really were happening day after day and continue to happen to create real pathways for groups not only like the League but others to plug in meaningfully during a moment of real crisis. And even as all this is happening at the forefront, in the background, we see things like Director Patel of FBI targeting organizing groups, their chats. A tactic of intimidation aimed at really chilling constitutionally protected organizing activity.
"So the dedication and sophistication, I think, of these organizers in Minnesota, and groups, in coordination and resolve has led to this collective action that we have seen play out.
"And the League, you know, and others, we’ve seen this playbook before right? To quell speech, and we know that silence only enables it.
"And so, I think this partnership really matters because organizations, each of us brings something really essential to this conversation. I think the League brings democracy infrastructure, credibility, a nationwide grassroots network, and a long history of defending constitutional rights of people, and so we’re so proud that our work is also focused on the communities who’ve been targeted most, and we know who those communities are.
"So, we, are trying to serve as a wedge, to widen the political space so that the abuse of power cannot hide behind silence.
"The League’s role is often to stand between this place of fear and participation, between communities under threat and the democratic systems that are meant to protect us. And so we are working to create safer pathways for civic participation when fear, retaliation, and intimidation are really meant to suppress our voices. And we want to name the moral truths when intimidation is used as a weapon. And so, as we find ourselves in these situations, we try to find ways to center people, human dignity, and shared values in moments of crisis, and not just at the ballot box.
"At the federal level, the League is mobilizing people power to demand accountability. Congress has helped fund and enable this crisis in many ways, and Congress has, just like Congresswoman Ramirez mentioned, has the constitutional authority to stop it. And we’re asking specifically to investigates DHS, the use of force, rejecting further funding until appropriate oversight and accountability measures are in place, and protecting the constitutional rights of civilians to peacefully protest without having their lives threatened or taken away. So, thank you to Congresswoman Ramirez for her courage and commitment to bringing legislative solutions. No agency and no elected official is above the law. And I think we are the people, we as the people have to be here to enforce that.
"I’ll just close by saying, across the country, we’re supporting state and local Leagues as they respond in real time. We know that we’re already hearing things pop up in Phoenix as Roman mentioned, and also in other places, Maine. We’re hearing about Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. And so, our job is not to tell communities how to resist. I think that’s a very community-based level decision, but we do want to help them do so safely, legally, and in solidarity through civic action and mutual aid support.
"So, if you don’t know, the League exists, really, to ensure that democracy works for everyone, and there is no democracy in a militarized state. There is no freedom where due process is optional. And defending voting rights and defending the conditions that make voting possible is paramount to us, because we believe freedom cannot survive where fear is the governing force.
"This is a moment that calls for coalition, and very bold action. The League is trying to meet this moment by standing with our partners, our members, but most importantly our neighbors, and by using every tool we have to defend the Constitution and the people it is meant to serve.
"So, I would just say thank you, and Godspeed to us all."
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