On May 14th, the Quixote Center joined a coalition of immigration rights groups and trade unions for a day of action to ask Congress to oppose a bill that would transform the country far beyond this presidential term. The reconciliation Bill that the Administration is pushing through Congress would be the largest transfer of wealth from hard-working, low-income families to the richest individuals of this nation in one single bill in history.
The bill provides billions of dollars to finance anti-immigration and mass deportation plans while cutting tens of billions of dollars in Medicaid. These cuts don’t only target undocumented immigrants but will affect millions of US citizens in over 14 states.
Meanwhile, the immigration detention budget would grow by more than 13 times the 2024 budget and convert ICE into a new arm of the US military. These unprecedented amounts of spending include:
-
$69 billion in unrestricted funds for border wall construction and militarization.
-
$80 billion for detention and enforcement.
-
$5 billion for the Department of Defense to use for “border operations”.
At the same time, this bill raises asylum request fees to $1000, a prohibitively high amount for vulnerable people seeking refuge from persecution. Asylum seekers would also have to pay $550 to request a work permit that would be only valid for 6 months and pay the same amount every time they renew it.
There is still time for us to act. Congressional leadership hopes the final markups will be completed by Memorial Day and get approval from the House, with its final passage in the Senate occurring as soon as July or as late as November. You can still call your Congressional representatives and ask them to vote against this bill.
Add comment