For Immediate Release:
Press Contact: Rebekah Entralgo, rentralgo@freedomforimmigrants.org
Washington, DC — The Defund Hate Coalition issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2021:
“For his final budget proposal before the election, the Trump administration is clear on its core motivations: a wholesale, hate-fueled attack on immigrants. In the four years Trump has put forth his annual budget proposal, he has requested a cumulative total of $36.4 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and $72.1 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP). These totals are on top of the billions of dollars in additional funding he’s called for over the years through supplemental and transfer requests and the billions he stole last year with his ‘national emergency’ declaration.
These taxpayer dollars translate into the separation of loved ones and families, the detention of thousands in abusive and deadly immigration jails, and the degradation of thriving communities nationwide. This year’s budget proposal is shamefully no different. Trump is once again asking Congress for billions to fund his hate-fueled attacks on immigrants — it is a blueprint of terror.”
Trump’s FY21 budget calls for:
$10.4 billion for ICE (a $2 billion or 24 percent increase from FY20). This includes another massive increase to the abusive and deadly immigration detention system, funding ICE to jail 60,000 people daily in 2021, hiring 2,844 new ICE agents, and a $2.3 billion increase for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
$18.2 billion for CBP ($800 million increase from the FY20 level). This includes nearly $2 billion for 82 miles of southern border wall construction, hiring 750 new Border Patrol agents, and $201.6 million for surveillance technology and equipment that will further militarize the border region.
$126 million for the Migrant Protections Protocol (MPP), the Trump administration’s program to force asylum seekers to remain in dangerous conditions in Mexico while their cases are being processed.
The harm that this budget represents is also seen in the massive budget slashes to the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Housing and Urban Development and Department of Education. We want our taxpayer dollars invested in critical education, housing, green infrastructure, nutrition and health care programs that support families and create thriving communities that enhance our collective well-being — not on terrorizing immigrants.
Many of our representatives claim they care about immigrant communities while simultaneously voting to fund aggressive immigration enforcement, border barrier construction, and deadly immigration jails. Members of Congress must fight to protect the immigrant community from deportation by rejecting Trump’s budget proposal, and instead call for significant cuts in funding to ICE and CBP and meaningful restrictions on their authority to reallocate funds Congress appropriates.”
###
The #DefundHate campaign, composed of organizations representing directly impacted communities, faith leaders, and civil rights and immigrant rights advocates, is committed to divestment from agencies that tear apart our families and terrorize our communities. For too long, our representatives have said they care about our communities while simultaneously funding aggressive immigration enforcement and deadly immigration jails. They must be held accountable to keep their promises and stand with the immigrant community. We call on our members of Congress to say no and vote against wasting taxpayer dollars on an abusive and deadly immigration enforcement system. Instead, we want our tax dollars used to strengthen our families and communities by investing in education, housing, nutrition and health care programs that provide opportunity and increase well-being.