Washington D.C. – Today, the Senate’s expected vote-a-rama will consider a budget resolution to provide an additional $140 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) over the next 10 years. Ahead of Thursday night’s vote-a-rama, a coalition of 164 civil, human, and immigrant rights organizations sent a letter to Congress urging the Senate to reject funneling billions more taxpayer dollars into deadly immigration enforcement and instead back a pathway to citizenship as the economically smart and morally just solution Americans overwhelmingly support. Leaders from organizations who signed on to the letter issued the following statements:
Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, Deputy Director of Advocacy and Campaigns at United We Dream, said:
“Our immigration system isn’t just failing our communities; it’s stealing from them. Year after year, Congress pays immigration agents billions of taxpayer dollars to carry out its terror, from the record-high deaths in detention to the unabated targeting of DACA recipients and applicants. Now, the Senate is weighing another $140 billion raise for immigration enforcement, on top of last year’s $170 billion. When millions of people can’t afford their groceries, rent, childcare and more, we need real solutions that put the stability and safety of our communities first. A pathway to citizenship is about keeping our families, workforces and communities intact and strengthening our economy at a time when the threats of a global recession loom high.”
Ignacia Rodriguez Kmec, Policy Counsel at the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), said:
“Our communities continue to suffer as the Senate shamefully considers an additional $170 billion to fund Trump and Stephen Miller’s mass detention and deportation agenda. Rather than fuel ICE and CBP’s cruelty with more of our taxpayer dollars, any legislation Congress considers must include a pathway to citizenship for the millions of immigrants that make this country thrive. Americans overwhelmingly support citizenship for their immigrant neighbors. It is past time for Congress to listen.”
George Escobar, Executive Director of We Are CASA, said:
“Congress is preparing to hand over another $140 billion to a deportation machine that has proven over and over again that it will only deliver suffering. This proposal is an insult to every working family in this country. We’ve already seen the human costs – deaths in detention, children growing up without parents and entire communities living in fear. We call on lawmakers to reject this reckless spending and deliver a pathway to citizenship that reflects the values this country claims to stand for.”
Angelica Salas, Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), said:
“If there was any doubt before 2025, there can no longer be any after what we have seen these last 15 months. A pathway to citizenship is the only permanent protection immigrant families need and deserve. This is no longer the country of second-class citizenship and ‘separate but equal.’ No matter what the fevered minds of the white supremacists imagine. Forcing hard-working immigrants to remain in the shadows, or offering them a revamped temporary status, is detrimental to the health, safety, and economies of immigrants and the country alike. This truth was evident to all with moral courage before, but in the face of raids based on racial profiling, deportations without due process, decimation of legal relief, and targeting of any public programs that help immigrants, only a path to citizenship can provide the protections that immigrant families need now and in the future. The American ethos demands no less.”
Naureen Shah, Director of Policy and Government Affairs for Immigration at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said:
“ICE and Border Patrol don’t need $140 billion more for their reckless detention and deportation push. With the 17th death in detention and counting — and the terrorizing of our communities across the country — it’s clear we need a vision for immigration beyond the sick fantasies of White House aide Stephen Miller. In this spring’s budget fight, Congress should focus on a path forward that the American people overwhelmingly support: fixing our broken immigration system for millions of our neighbors and loved ones who are American in every way but on paper—they deserve nothing less than our nation’s full promise of citizenship, dignity and freedom.”
