More than 200 Organizations Call on Congressional Leadership to Reject Funding Increases for Immigration Enforcement During Lame Duck, Cut Funding in 2019

Signers call on Congress to reject any funding deal that will allow a corrupted and abusive Department of Homeland Security to further militarize the border and harm immigrant communities.

WASHINGTON, DC -- More than 200 non-governmental and advocacy organizations sent a letter to congressional leadership today in advance of the December 7th expiration of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) budget, calling for bold leadership in support of immigrant communities already suffering under the Trump administration’s bloated immigration enforcement apparatus.

Specifically, the letter calls for a short-term continuing resolution that does not increase the DHS budget for FY 2019 during the lame duck session, with a commitment to cut enforcement funds in a permanent spending deal next year

“Any increase in funding will facilitate family separations, cause irreparable harm to the border region, and incentivize mass detention and deportation—policies that tear apart the fabric of our families and communities,” the letter reads. “We cannot treat funding for immigration detention and enforcement or border wall construction like business as usual.”

Addressing Leader McConnell, Speaker Ryan, Minority Leader Pelosi, and Democratic Leader Schumer, signatories asked for Congress to pass a “clean” short-term continuing resolution that would extend current spending levels and not add any additional funding to the more than $2 billion already allocated for border militarization and more than $4 billion allocated for detention and enforcement. Furthermore, groups would not support any long-term budget deal without cuts to the DHS budget, with reductions to immigration enforcement, and no increase to allocations for a wall at the southern border.

“Border walls divide communities and tribal nations, cut through sensitive ecosystems, devastate the environment, threaten wildlife, eviscerate the rights of private property owners, cause catastrophic flooding, and contribute to thousands of migrant deaths,” advocates emphasize. “The $5 billion for border wall contained in the House FY 2019 DHS appropriations bill would cause even more harm,” as well as create a virtually bottomless fund from which the Administration could carry out its anti-immigrant policies. “In essence, the billions of dollars earmarked for a wall could quickly become a piggy bank for unilateral administration policies such as jailing children. We have seen ICE abuse its transfer and reprogramming authority by ushering $200 million from other parts of DHS into its detention and removal apparatus.”

The letter also calls for “urgently needed oversight of the billions of border wall dollars identified by the Government Accountability Office as lacking cost-benefit and effectiveness analysis.”

The full list of signatories is below:

ACLU

Al Otro Lado

Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice

Alianza Americas

Alliance San Diego

American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

American Immigration Lawyers Association

Amnesty International USA

Animal Welfare Institute

Arkansas United Community Coalition

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC

Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA

Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP)

Austin Region Justice for Our Neighbors

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action

Buffalo Immigrant Leadership Team

Cabrini Immigrant Services of NYC, Inc.

CaliforniaHealth+ Advocates

Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition

CASA

Causa Oregon

Center for American Progress

Center for Biological Diversity

Center for Community Change

Center for Popular Democracy

Center for Victims of Torture

Central American Legal Assistance

Central American Resource Center (CARECEN-LA)

Chispa

Church of Our Saviour/La Iglesia de Nuestro Salvador

Church World Service

CLASP

Coalición de Derechos Humanos

Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights - CHIRLA

Coalition on Human Needs

Colibri Center for Human Rights

Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition

Colorado People's Alliance

Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach

Comunidades Unidas / Communities United

Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, US Provinces

Consejo de Federaciones Mexicanas

COPAL- Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Acción Latina

CREDO

Defenders of Wildlife

Delaware Ecumenical Council on Children and Families

Democratic Moms of Camarillo

Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee

Detention Watch Network

DMV Sanctuary Congregation Network

Drug Policy Alliance

Earth Care

Earthjustice

El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos

End Streamline Coalition

Endangered Species Coalition

Environmental Protection Information Center

Erie Neighborhood House

Esperanza Community Housing Corporation

Essex County Community Organization (ECCO)

Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM)

Faith In Action Bay Area

Faith in Indiana

Faith In New York

Farmworker Justice

First Friends of NJ & NY

Florida Immigrant Coalition

Franciscan Action Network

Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement

Freedom for Immigrants-Chihuahuan Desert

Freedom House Detroit

Friends of Broward Detainees

Frontera de Cristo

Fuerza del Valle

Granite State Organizing Project

Great Old Broads for Wilderness

GreenLatinos

HIAS Pennsylvania

Hispanic Federation

Hope Border Institute/Instituto Fronterizo Esperanza

Human Rights First

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

Immigrant Defense Project

Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project

Immigrant Legal Resource Center

Immigration Hub

In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda

Indivisible

Indivisible Conejo

Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (ICIJ)

International Institute of the Bay Area

InterReligious Task Force on Central America & Colombia

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement

Japanese American Citizens League

Jobs With Justice

Junta for Progressive Action

Justice Strategies

Kentucky Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

Kino Border Initiative

Klamath Forest Alliance

LA RED, a program of Faith in Action

La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE)

Latin America Working Group (LAWG)

Latin American Coalition

Latino Policy Forum

League of Conservation Voters

Legal Aid Justice Center

Leo Baeck Temple

Lower Columbia Hispanic Council

Maine People's Alliance

Make the Road Connecticut

Make the Road Nevada

Make the Road New Jersey

Make the Road NY

Make the Road Pennsylvania

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA)

Massachusetts Law Reform Institute

Mi Familia Vota

Michigan United

Migrant Center for Human Rights

Migrant Justice / Justicia Migrante

Missouri Faith Voices

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF)

National Center for Lesbian Rights

National Center for Transgender Equality

National Council of Jewish Women

National Employment Law Project

National Immigrant Justice Center

National Immigration Law Center

National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild

National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH)

National Juvenile Justice Network

National Korean American Service & Education Consortium

National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

National Partnership for New Americans

National Wildlife Refuge Association

Nebraska Appleseed

Nevada Paralegal Center LLC

New Energy Economy

New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrant Rights

New Mexico Immigrant Law Center

New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light

New York Immigration Coalition

NM Comunidades en Acción y de Fe (CAFe)

North County Immigration Task Force

Northern Jaguar Project

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project

NY4WHALES

Ohio Immigrant Alliance

OneAmerica

Our Family Coalition

Our Revolution New Mexico & Frack Free Four Corners

OutFront Minnesota

Pangea Legal Services

Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition

People's Action

Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste

Political Asylum Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project

Progressive Leadership Alliance for Nevada

Promise Arizona

Quixote Center

Rachel's Network

Reformed Church of Highland Park

Rio Grande International Study Center

Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network

Rio Grande Valley Unofficial Coalition

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (SIREN)

Sierra Club

Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of New York

Sisters of Mercy of the Americas - Institute Leadership Team

Somos Un Pueblo Unido

South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)

South Texas Human Rights Center

Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)

Southern Border Communities Coalition

Southern California immigration Project

Southern Poverty Law Center

Southwest Environmental Center

St. Louis Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America (IFCLA)

St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, Tucson

Stand Up America

Sunflower Community Action

Tahirih Justice Center

Taos Immigrant Allies

Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition

Texas Organizing Project

Thai Community Development Center

The Green Valley/Sahuarita Samaritans

The New York Immigration Coalition

The Resurrection Project

The Shared Earth Foundation

The United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society

Together Colorado, Member of Faith in Action

Transformations CDC

T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

UndocuBlack Network

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC)

United for a Fair Economy, UFE

United We Dream

UnLocal, Inc.

URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity

Vermont Interfaith Action

Voces de la Frontera

Voices for Progress

Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)

Wilco Family Justice Alliance (Williamson County, TX)

Wildlands Network

Wind of the Spirit, Immigrant Resource Center

Workers Defense Project

 
 
 

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