For Immediate Release: March 17, 2020
WASHINGTON — Over 250 national, state, and local advocacy groups and organizations urged Congress to dramatically reduce the budgets of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and to enact strong measures to prevent the Trump administration from diverting additional funds from unrelated government accounts for immigrant detention and border wall construction, in a letter sent today to congressional leaders.
As leadership considers the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill, the letter asks for members to examine the administration’s ongoing attacks against immigrants, which have led to an abusive ICE detention system that cages nearly 40,000 people every day, as well as the deaths of over 200 people in ICE custody. Moreover, the administration’s new policies to deploy swat-like agents to so-called “sanctuary cities” sow fear and mistrust in our communities and force immigrants deeper into the shadows, unable to seek necessary medical care during the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The letter calls on congressional leadership to rebuke the actions of these unwieldy government agencies by imposing:
Dramatic cuts in funding for ICE and CBP, including specifically: no funding for the border wall; cuts in funding for ICE and CBP agents; and significant reductions in funding for detention.
Accountability measures across spending bills to ensure that the administration is held to appropriated funding levels with regard to detention and enforcement spending and wall and physical barrier construction.
Prohibitions on the use of funds for the abusive programs being used by the administration to effectively close the southern border to asylum seekers, including: the Migrant Protection Protocols; the regulatory bans on asylum eligibility; the so-called Asylum Cooperative Agreements; and the newly implemented expedited processing programs known as PACR and HARP.
The advocates tell members, “Congress can no longer stand idly by while the White House and the Department of Homeland Security unilaterally--and unlawfully--close the United States’ borders to those most in need. Congress must work to restrict funding for the unaccountable forces that target immigrants, people of color, and other vulnerable populations in our communities and at the border. We call all Members of Congress to demand a substantial decrease in funding for enforcement, border militarization, detention, and deportations carried out by ICE and CBP.”
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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.