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Activists and other residents urged the D.C. Council’s聽 at an Oct. 4 meeting to pass a bill that would bar landlords and employers from threatening to reveal someone’s immigration status.

The Protecting Immigrants from Extortion Amendment Act would criminalize a threat made by a landlord, employer or other person to share someone鈥檚 immigration status with law enforcement in order to extort labor, property or services.

鈥淭his threat is all too common and is more terrifying than ever in current times,鈥� Laurie Ball Cooper, the legal director of , told the committee.聽Ayuda is an organization that provides legal, language and social services to immigrants in the District.聽

Cooper said she has represented hundreds of clients through the organization, many of whom bosses and landlords have threatened with reporting their immigration status to law enforcement.聽

She said the bill would allow the city to catch up to the realities faced by her clients, who view these threats as extortion.聽The bill would also allow the city to match federal laws already in place and those of neighboring Virginia and Maryland, Cooper said.

Cooper said passing the bill would expand the language of the law to protect more people 鈥� not just living in the country illegally, but also immigrants with temporary legal resident status.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a whole range of people who are in an immigration status that could lead them to being susceptible to extortion along these lines,鈥� Cooper said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just individuals who are currently undocumented.鈥�

She said that people with temporary legal resident status are particularly vulnerable because their status often has an expiration date or another extenuating circumstance that keeps them in limbo. 聽

鈥淎s a sanctuary city, we have a responsibility to protect our vulnerable communities,鈥� Abel Nunez, executive director of the Columbia Heights-based Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), told the committee.聽 is an organization that provides services to Latino immigrants across the District.

Nunez said the District’s government needs to protect its residents because others won鈥檛. The Trump administration has cancelled the temporary protective status of more than a million people, Nunez said.

鈥淕iven the current political environment, Congress is unable or unwilling to act in the plight of immigrant community members,鈥� Nunez said.

Cooper said passing the bill would convey to victims, who often don鈥檛 believe the justice system would protect them, that they can report landlords and bosses who threaten to reveal their immigration status.聽Passing the law would also send a message to the perpetrators that the city won鈥檛 stand for exploitation, Cooper said.聽

鈥淭he goal is to eliminate the action,鈥� Cooper said.

颁辞耻苍肠颈濒尘补苍听, who represents Ward 4 and introduced the bill, said he鈥檚 proud to live in and serve a sanctuary city. A sanctuary city is one聽where local police choose not to聽help the federal government find and detain people who entered the country illegally.聽

Todd said immigrants are particularly vulnerable if they fail to meet a landlord or boss’s demands.聽

鈥淭hey deserve to live in the District free of harassment and exploitation,” Councilman Charles Allen said.