The #DefundHate Coalition which the Southern Border Communities Coalition is a member of, recommends that the Senate Appropriations Committee vote NO on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) FY19 appropriations bill.
This measure includes increased funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to target, incarcerate, and tear families apart and build a harmful border wall. We oppose this bill and any legislative vehicle that increases, rather than decreases, funding for ICE and CBP, which are responsible for incarcerating children and parents in abusive detention camps. Furthermore, we oppose funding for the further militarization of our borders, including a harmful, divisive border wall that border communities and over 60 percent of Americans do not want.
The nation is watching in horror as CBP agents send parents to be prosecuted, then detained by ICE, and removed from the U.S. despite asylum claims, while their children suffer unimaginable anguish and fear. The funding in this bill is a ransom to Trump’s creation of a humanitarian crisis, money that would only accelerate the rate of family separation and incarceration.
Any Member of Congress who is truly committed to humane treatment of immigrants, and to ensuring that families are no longer destroyed and incarcerated, must actively call for defunding the agencies that bring us pain every single day. We urge you to vote NO on this funding bill, which would only further militarize DHS, outrageously add more Border Patrol agents lying to parents that their children are going to come back after bathing, and inflict more trauma on immigrant families.
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. 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.