NLIHC Joins Center for Law and Social Policy Letter Urging Congress to Enact the “Protecting Sensitive Locations Act”

By Kayla Blackwell, NLIHC Senior Housing Policy Analyst and Sarita Kelkar, NLIHC Policy Intern 

NLIHC joined a Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) letter with over 400 organizations urging Congress to limit immigration enforcement in “sensitive locations.” The letter describes how incorporating protections offered in the “Protecting Sensitive Locations Act” (S.455/H.R.1061) into Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending legislation acts as a meaningful step to protecting communities. NLIHC endorsed the bill with over 800 national, state, and local organizations.  

“Sensitive locations” refers to areas such as homeless, domestic violence, and emergency shelters, schools, places of worship, healthcare facilities, and more, or environments providing  “vital services important to well-being” where the presence of immigration enforcement threatens community members’ ability to feel safe while accessing such services. For over three decades, Republicans and Democrats have together recognized how limiting immigration enforcement in sensitive locations protects the sanctity of these areas connected to community well-being—taking intentional actions to prevent fear and related chilling effects. While what constituted “sensitive locations” was expanded in 2021 under the Biden administration to become “protected areas,” this policy was rescinded in 2025 through a DHS statement under the Trump administration. With the mandate for immigration officials to use “common sense” instead, the “Protecting Sensitive Locations Act” was reintroduced in response—an opportunity to restore sensitive locations and offer a safeguard for immigrant communities (see Memo, 2/18/25).  

The letter describes how: 

• Limiting immigration enforcement in and near sensitive locations provides children and families, regardless of immigration status, with a greater sense of security in the places they access every day.  

• Because of the Trump administration rescinding the “protected areas” policy, reckless and indiscriminate immigration enforcement has resulted in an increasing number of incidents in sensitive locations.  

• Schools in cities across the country have gone into lockdown because of the presence of immigration enforcement officers, with the trauma extending beyond children in immigrant families to all children in these communities.  

As Congress undergoes funding negotiations for DHS, the letter emphasizes the importance of reinstating stability to sensitive locations: action that will further individuals’ engagement in spaces that act as key pillars of support and community.  

Read the letter here.  

Learn more about the Protected Areas policy through a National Immigration Law Center fact sheet.  

Learn more about the “Protecting Sensitive Locations Act” and view the over 800 endorsers here.