Washington, DC — After months of negotiations, today, the House of Representatives paved the path for a proposal to fund the federal government to the tune of $1.3 trillion with the Senate set to vote on it ahead of tomorrow’s midnight deadline.
As it relates to immigration, the funding bill includes money for:
- $14.018 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP, $1.831 billion more than fiscal year 2017
- $7.076 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), $641 million more than fiscal year 2017. $370 million of this increase is for “Custody Operations,” the account that funds immigration detention.
“Not only does this not take any steps towards defunding hate, it massively expands funds available to ICE and CBP,” said Mary Small, Policy Director at Detention Watch Network. “Some limited constraints on how that money can be used can’t make up for the fact that more taxpayer dollars are being funneled toward abusive, hateful agencies.”
The proposal comes as public outrage over Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda has reached a fever pitch with widespread national efforts by the #DefundHate Campaign resulting in 100 Members of Congress publically calling for significant cuts in funding to ICE and CBP.
“With ICE's well documented track records of abuse, we have reached a new milestone in the court of public opinion to abolish ICE,” added Small. “Members of Congress must vote ‘no’ on this funding bill and heed the call to significantly cut funding for these deadly and abusive agencies as the fight to end the detention and deportation machine in its entirety will only continue to intensify.”
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Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition of organizations and individuals working to expose and challenge the injustices of the United States’ immigration detention and deportation system and advocate for profound change that promotes the rights and dignity of all persons. Founded in 1997 by immigrant rights groups, DWN brings together advocates to unify strategy and build partnerships on a local and national level to end immigration detention. Visit www.detentionwatchnetwork.org