Wednesday evening, the House advanced a plan to give ICE and Border Patrol up to an extra $140,000,000,000 – with absolutely no strings attached.
With this vote, Congress will now draft a reconciliation bill reflecting this massive increase in funding. This money will only fuel more cruel raids, more inhumane detentions, and more attacks on our neighbors. Together, we have stopped Congress from issuing ICE and Border Patrol a blank check for months – demanding that they rein in these out-of-control agencies. We need to keep up that pressure.
This plan represents a massive increase for agencies with already bloated budgets. The Department of Homeland Security’s budget is larger than the entire military budget of most countries. And, Congress already gave them $170 billion for immigration enforcement last year.
ICE and Border Patrol continue to wreak havoc on our communities, endangering immigrants, protesters, and families alike. To date, nothing has been done to rein in the brutality of these agencies, and no accountability measures have been put in place to get justice for their victims.
Now, Congress is one step closer to giving these lawless agencies more money to terrorize our communities.
With thanks for all you do,
Anu Joshi
Pronouns: She, her, hers
National Campaigns Director for Immigration, ACLU
American Civil Liberties Union
125 Broad Street, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10004, USA