Don't Let California Indoctrinate Law Enforcement With Racist, Dual-Loyalty Tropes!
Senator Caballero, Assemblymember Bains and Assemblymember Soria have introduced SB 509, which would allocate state funds to train local law enforcement on transnational repression — a matter constitutionally reserved to the federal government. A look at last year’s version (AB 3027) makes clear who the bill targets— namely, Californians of Indian origin as a suspect class.
SB 509 is being sponsored by organizations with a track record of anti-Hindu, antisemitic, anti-Israel, and anti-India hate, and the bill contains no information on who or how the training will be conducted. This vagueness is significant because whichever activist group delivers the training will indoctrinate California’s Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) with their anti-Hindu, anti-India, antisemitic, and anti-Israel narratives, rather than providing POST officers with balanced perspectives of foreign policy disagreements that exist in every diaspora and immigrant community.
California Indians and Hindu cannot feel safe if their local law enforcement has been trained to be suspicious of them for no other reason than their faith and/or national origin.
SB 509 is also dangerous because it calls for law enforcement to be trained to disregard legitimate terrorist threats as merely “dissident activism” — including those INTERPOL has deemed terrorists — and instead, investigate any person or organization that disagrees as “foreign agents” engaging in “transnational repression” by “suppressing dissent.” The bill’s overemphasis on targeting diaspora communities with dual-loyalty tropes puts all immigrant community organizations at a huge risk.
We need YOU to contact your California State Legislators to urge them to OPPOSE SB 509!
*Please note: this Action Alert is limited to residents of California only*
ADDITIONAL HAF RESOURCES ON SB 509: