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