Say NO to More Detention, Deportation, and Border Militarization

Background: President Trump is requesting billions of dollars in additional funding to expand a deportation force to tear families and communities apart, detain an unprecedented 52,000 people daily, and further militarize communities living in border regions. This means billions of additional funding to balloon an already bloated immigration detention and deportation force. Congress has the “power of the purse” and must reject this proposal and cut funding to the machinery behind unjust deportation, detention, and further militarization of our border communities.

Right now, Congress is considering the level of funding for detention, deportation, and border militarization for the rest of this fiscal year (FY 2018) and for next fiscal year (FY 2019) – at the expense of investments in education, healthcare, and refugee resettlement, which would serve only to dismantle community wholeness. Every dollar that is spent without enacting protective legislation will go toward detaining and deporting dreamers, TPS recipients, long time contributors to our communities, children, and asylum seekers, and dismantling family unity. It is critical that Senators and Representatives hear loudly and clearly that their constituents want them to cut this harmful spending, and instead enact legislation that protects our community members from additional deportations, family separation, and dangerous detention.

FAITH LEADERS & FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS:
Please sign on by COB Wednesday, March 7th to tell Congress to cut funding for detention, deportation, and border militarization.

Faith Leaders: Click here to sign on.
Faith-based Organizations: Click here to sign on.

TOP FIVE WAYS TO TAKE ACTION TODAY:

TELL CONGRESS to Cut Funds for Deportation, Detention, & Border Militarization and Permanently Protect Immigrant Youth

CALL YOUR SENATORS & REPRESENTATIVES TODAY: Click Here or Call (866) 940-2439*
*Please call 3 times to connect with your Representative and both of your Senators

Sample Script: “I’m your constituent from [CITY/TOWN], and [as a person of faith] I urge you to cut funding for detention, deportation, and border militarization. I don’t want Congress to write a check to deport and detain my community members. I urge you to do everything you can to see detention, deportation, and border militarization funding is reduced in fiscal year 2018 and fiscal year 2019. I also urge you to stand with all dreamers in the United States and support the Dream Act, or another bipartisan, legislative solution that protects as many dreamers as possible without compromising family unity, undercutting other immigrants, or extending or increasing funding for the detention and deportation machine or border militarization.”

Feel free to share a personal story about standing in solidarity with immigrants. Let them know the specific ways that immigrants are welcomed into and contribute to your community.

Write Opinion Editorials & Letters to the Editor for Local Media Outlets

Publishing opinion editorials (op-eds) and letters to the editor (LTEs) are a great way to get the attention of your Members of Congress. But first, you need to write a piece that tells your story – not just the facts.

How to Engage the Media:

Respond to Recent Reports: Find a news article or story that relates to the issue. Make sure you are responding to a recent story or topic – no more than a few days old.
Ask for Action: Make a specific ask to specific policymakers. Mentioning your Members of Congress by name is an important way to make sure they see it.
Find the Facts: Illustrate your argument with one or two facts with citations. Statistics can be helpful in moderation, but too many statistics can be confusing.
Tie It Together: Bring in your personal connection or moral approach to the issue. State your connections to the community as they are relevant to the points you’re making.

Tips for Submitting Op-Eds or LTEs:

Keep it short: Newspapers are most likely to publish letters to the editor that are short and make one succinct point (that is supported with facts or quotes from validators!). Check the newspaper you’re submitting to for a word limit. If you can’t find a limit, keep it to 150 words or fewer for LTEs or 750 words or fewer for op-eds.
Write from your own voice: Your piece is more likely to be published if it comes from your voice. Don’t be afraid to tell your story and to appeal to the audience from the heart as well as the head.
Submit it to the newspaper: Submit the letter directly to the newspaper (most newspapers have an online submissions page) and follow up by phone or email if you don’t get a response within a week or two. Put the letter in the body of the email to make it easy for the editorial staff to read. As you submit your letter, don’t miss an opportunity to build a relationship with staff. To find local newspapers and submit your piece, visit: http://act.fcnl.org/lte/lte/.

Report back: If you’re published, email a link to jamuzie@interfaithimmigration.org so we can track the impact. Also, make sure to email your media piece directly to your Members of Congress and call their DC office to continue the conversation.

Sample Letter to the Editor:

As a person of faith, I want my tax dollars to reflect a shared faithful call to love my neighbor, welcome the stranger, and care for the sojourner. Unfortunately, President Trump’s budget request runs counter to this vision by cutting programs that assist low and middle-income people to fund unnecessary immigration enforcement. We must not close the door on those most in need by slashing refugee resettlement and assistance funding. Our community is home to many immigrants awaiting long overdue congressional reform – Congress should reject spending billions of dollars to tear families apart through unjust detention and deportation.

Congress faces a critical choice while they develop the budget for our nation. I hope that I count on Senator Toomey, Senator Casey, and Representative Meehan to choose community over exclusion. I hope they will reduce funding for deportation, detention, and border militarization in 2018 and 2019.

Sample Opinion Editorial:

TITLE

Last week, I joined a group of faith leaders, immigrant neighbors, and other community members. Though we met as strangers, we left as friends, united in our dream to make our community one that welcomes people from all backgrounds.

While some have stood against immigrants from backgrounds that may be different than theirs, my experience has shown me that our differences are what make us a stronger and more diverse as a community. (Details about event should be around 250-400 words. Include personal stories, lessons learned, and your thoughts/experience).

As a community leader, I urge every member of our community to participate in similar events and challenge the growing anti-immigrant sentiment in our country. As residents of a country founded on the hard work, determination, and skills of generations of immigrants from all countries, religions, and backgrounds, we must not let our differences divide us, but instead strengthen us. Exclusionary mindsets will only lead to fear and hostility, neither of which have any place in our community.
Love will always overcome hate and as a member of this community, I am ready to stand alongside people of all backgrounds and faith traditions so that we can build communities of acceptance, inclusivity, and welcome.

Host an Interfaith Vigil

Don’t forget to invite your Member of Congress and send information to their local and DC offices!

Hosting interfaith vigils provides the opportunity for faith leaders to express how welcoming immigrants is part of all faith traditions, reflecting on the deep scriptural and spiritual roots of our work to support refugees and immigrants. Even small events, multiplied across the country, will send a powerful message to the Trump administration and Congress that welcoming immigrants and refugees is moral issue that is important to people of faith and conscience.

Steps to a successful prayer vigil:

Coordinate a public prayer vigil with faith leaders, immigrants’ rights groups, refugee resettlement agencies, immigrant leaders, community members, and if possible local elected leaders.
Identify the core leaders and speakers, make sure there are impacted people, including undocumented individuals and Muslim organizations who are invited to help plan and speak at the event.
Consider inviting elected officials including Representatives, Senators, City Council Members, or the Mayor.
Be clear about your goals, what you want to accomplish, and how many people you hope will join the event.
Identify the best location for the vigil, which is generally somewhere central in a symbolic memorial, state capitol, park or city hall.
Apply for any permits needed for the location; reserve or order any equipment you’ll need such as microphones, cameras, banners, candles, projectors; and make sure you can access electrical outlets.
Choose a time of day best for attendance and media — most news reports take place at 5-6 PM and 9-10 PM, so a few hours before those time blocks is best for press events.
Promote the event through social media, public service announcement, flyers, websites, and congregation bulletins.
Agree on messaging and talking points.
Bring signs that are consistent with your messaging and agreed upon ahead of time
Assign specific talking points to each speaker and ensure they have time limits.
Invite the media by issuing a media advisory and following up with a press release after the event.
Invite participants at the vigil to be part of further action and advocacy by writing and calling the White House and their Representatives and Senators.
If you are able to get a wide range of organizations together, you could hold a 24 or 48 hour vigil outside the office of your Senator or Representative. Create a spreadsheet to sign up each organization with 2 hour blocks of time.

The set-up for the vigil should ensure that all faiths are respected and welcomed with awareness and consciousness. Drawing on the faith traditions and rituals can make vigils much more powerful, raising the creative and dramatic tension.

Ask clergy attending to wear collars, stoles, robes and any other appropriate religious attire.
Foot-washing of individuals impacted by immigration policies.
Procession with candles to symbolic location.
A Prayer Wall with handwritten prayers for immigrants and refugees.
Lift up stories in sacred texts.
Highlight passages in scripture and present to Members of Congress.
Collect and deliver prayers to your Senators and Representatives.
Make visuals – photos, drawings, art, etc., that show the consequences of the Trump administration’s actions and policies.
If you want to do a 24 or 48 hour vigil make a signup sheet and assign 2 hour time slots to each organization involved.

Sample Vigil Program:

Welcome—a few words about the focus and purpose of your vigil. Why now? What’s the concern? Who’s affected? How can this vigil convince your members of congress to support refugees and immigrants? What values shape your faith traditions’ response to these concerns? This may take the form of brief comments from one of your speakers, or a welcome and an opening prayer.

Music- Invite local musicians who share similar values to join your vigil, you can have them do one or two songs throughout the program. Choose songs that are connected to the cause, or songs that everyone knows and can sing along.

Opening Prayer—Ask clergy or key lay leader to open with a prayer Song—A singer, choir or instrumentalist can perform, or a few singers can lead participants in singing. Reading—for ideas see suggested readings below.

Speaker—A personal story from a local community member of how the outdated and unjust immigration system has impacted families. More than one story can be integrated throughout the program as well. Creative Ritual: Integrate creative symbols or rituals from faith traditions that draw more attention to the importance of immigration reform (see above suggestions)

Prayer—One person may lead the prayers, or you might invite several faith leaders to pray according to their traditions. Involve vigil participants in praying a refrain throughout your prayer time, or pray in a circle so everyone has the opportunity to pray. Consider offering prayers in multiple languages.

Song & Closing—reiterate the focus and purpose of your vigil, and send participants off with a call to welcome newcomers and raise their voices in the public sphere to stop the deportations. Consider a procession or march to another symbolic and strategic location.

Sample Invite to Your Member of Congress:

Dear Honorable Senator / Representative,

Thank you for your support of refugees and immigrants over the years.

We would like to invite you to attend [ORGANIZATION/ COALITION]’s prayer vigil/ press conference on [DATE] at [LOCATION] along with faith leaders and civic leaders who are speaking out against the deportations that separate families.

We would be honored to have presence as a speaker at this press conference/ vigil. Other speakers include [list 2-3 top speakers] Please let us know as soon as you can if you are able to attend by contacting me at [email]. If you are able to be there we will connect about the details on messaging and agenda.

Sincerely,

Spreading the Word on Welcome: Media Resources

If you have planned an event such as a dinner, panel discussion, project, interfaith vigil, or weekly service, we encourage you to reach out and invite members of the media. Look online at the local publications or outlets you would like in attendance and search for past articles on immigration or refugees, then consider pitching your event to reporters who frequently cover those issues or other community issues if there is not a designated immigration or refugee reporter.
Consider inviting the editorial director at your local newspaper. By inviting members of the press, you will be able to further share our message of welcoming to a larger audience and also inspire local media to cover refugee issues more frequently in a positive way that highlights broad community support for refugees and resettlement.
To invite multiple members of the press, send a media advisory at least two full business days ahead of the event. Ideally, send the media advisory one week before the event and then again the day before your event.
Please see the draft pitch email for media invitation, as well as the media advisory below.

Draft Pitch Email for Media Invitation and Follow Up from Advisory
Hello,
I hope you are well! I wanted to let you know of a potential story opportunity in regards to the continued debate over refugee resettlement in CITY/STATE and the ongoing response from communities calls to end resettlement. On DATE, ORGANIZATION will host a welcoming dinner/event with refugees from COUNTRIES. Joining together in a meal/discussion, community leaders including LIST, will join refugees to create a welcoming community and discuss issues and concerns around refugee resettlement.
In light of the continued and heated political debate over refugee resettlement, we would like to highlight the human stories behind the resettlement program, particularly how families and faith communities are impacted by these welcoming policies. Given your past articles highlighting refugees in our communities, I would love to offer you an exclusive interview with the group next DATE if you are interested!
I have attached the invitation flyer to this email with a full list of individuals in the group, but please let me know if you are interested or if you have any questions!
Sincerely,
NAME

DATE
For Immediate Release
Contact:
NAME, PHONE NUMBER

MEDIA ADVISORY

Date of Event, Time, Location
Local (Faith Groups/Community Groups) Hosts (Vigil/Rally/Event) to Welcome Immigrants and Refugees in (Name of Town)
Your City Name, State Abbreviation – As the (City/Town Name) community seeks to support their most vulnerable families, leaders from (Organization/Congregation) will host (event type) to oppose wasteful spending that focuses on deportation, detention, and border militarization and pulls important resources from low- and middle-income and immigrant families. They will be joined by refugees from (country) and (list other special guests, especially clergy or elected officials). Participants will discuss how refugee resettlement positively impacts the community, the need for a clean Dream Act, and what local organizations and individuals can do to help community members who have settled in the United States with Temporary Protective Status. All participants will be available for interviews before and after the event.
WHAT: Event type with faith and community leaders to welcome immigrants and refugees

WHERE: Address of event
WHEN: Date and time of event
SPEAKERS: List of all speakers and their titles
DETAILS: Add event details such as security (if applicable), special visuals (religious symbols, art pieces, etc.), or any other important event information.
###

Join the Prayer Chain and Share on Social Media

Don’t forget to share the same message with your Senators & Representatives on social media!

Prayer Chain: Take over social media with our prayers to defund detention, deportation, and border militarization by joining a prayer chain.

Record a video of yourself holding a printed, filled out #DefundHate sign: PDF, PNG

Say: My name is _________________ and I’m ______________ (faith tradition)
I am from ___________________ (city, state)
I pray to defund detention, deportation, and border militarization because________________

Upload your video to Twitter with the hashtag #DefundHate and tag the Interfaith Immigration Coalition (@interfaithimm) and tweet at your Members of Congress.
Post the video to Instagram and Facebook with #DefundHate. Make the post public on Facebook and tag Interfaith Immigration Coalition and your Members of Congress!

Here are some additional sample social media posts:

.@[SENATOR/REP] Don’t write Trump a check to deport & detain our community members. Enact legislation that protects us instead. #DefundHate #NoBanNoWallNoRaids
.@[SENATOR/REP]: I OPPOSE Congress writing a check for @POTUS to fund deportation, border militarization, and detention. Do the right thing and #DefundHate #NoBanNoWallNoRaids
.@realDonaldTrump: Expanding funding for deportation force, border militarization, and detention will tear families apart. #DefundHate #NoBanNoWallNoRaids [what if it was yours graphic?]
.@realDonaldTrump: Don’t write a check to deport and detain my community members and militarize my community #DefundHate #NoBanNoWallNoRaids [defund hate graphic]
As a nation of immigrants, we reject Trump’s request for $ to build an un-American border wall & out-of-control deportation force. #DefundHate #NoBanNoWallNoRaids
Keeping families safe and together is America’s priority. @[MEMBER OF CONGRESS] say NO to #DefundHate & stop mass deportation.
.@[MEMBER OF CONGRESS] invest in families, NOT in Trump’s plan to tear families apart. We’re better than this #DefundHate #NoBanNoWallNoRaids
$1.6 billion for border wall. $4.4 billion for more jail beds. $186 million for more ICE agents. America is better than this. #DefundHate #NoBanNoWallNoRaids
What would you do for the country if you had $1.6 billion? Probably NOT build a hateful border wall. Tell Congress: #DefundHate #NoBanNoWallNoRaids

Plan a Neighbor-to-Neighbor Visit to Your In-District Member Offices

Members of Congress will be in district from March 26th – April 6th. Establishing and nurturing relationships with your Senators and Representatives is crucial to enacting immigration policies that protect and affirm the rights of immigrants and refugees, and also to stopping proposals that would negatively impact these communities. Every Senator and Representative has an office – often multiple offices – in their home state. Use our Neighbor to Neighbor Toolkit to request meetings and put together a team.

Get a team together: A team ideally includes faith leaders from different traditions, people whose lives have been directly impacted by the immigration system, people who volunteer or work teaching English or resettling refugees, etc. Be strategic in finding team members and community leaders who best represent your community’s call for just immigration policies that foster welcoming communities and whom the Member may already know or respect. Your team should commit to building an ongoing relationship with the office. Aim for 5-10 participants, though a larger group can be a powerful sign of support. Check with the scheduler to see how many people their office can accommodate and be sure to plan well, so that you are focused on your message and everyone knows their specific roles.
Learn about who represents your community in Congress: Go to www.house.gov and www.senate.gov to find out which Members of Congress represent you and your surrounding community. Their websites and a “Google” search will show how they have voted before and what they have said about immigration reform, as well as biographical sketches, campaign statements, past occupations, religion, political and social memberships, areas of interest and positions on other issues, all of which can inform your approach to the meeting.
Have a plan: Meet with the other participants to assign roles, including the facilitator, the personal story, specific points, and the “ask.” Practice by role-playing before the meeting so that everyone feels comfortable and knows what to do. Review your talking points and prepare your materials. In order to show the broad support of faith communities, consider bringing the Interfaith Immigration Coalition Platform, which outlines the types of positive reform faith communities seek. You may also want to include other materials, such as media clips of local events and fact sheets showing the faith community’s support for positive immigration policies. The most current leave-behind resources can be found at: http://interfaithimmigration.org/neighbor.
Roles:
The Facilitator will kick off the meeting by introducing the group, explaining the purpose for the meeting, and providing space for each person to briefly introduce themselves. The facilitator will also jump in if the meeting goes off-track and redirect the conversation.
The Personal Story is key to every meeting. Someone should be present who has either been directly impacted by the broken immigration system, or has worked closely with individuals who have been separated from family members, detained, or deported. Telling these stories will show how people’s lives are impacted and how your community would benefit from positive immigration legislation, as well as the negative consequences of proposed anti-immigrant bills.
Point People on Specific Issues: There will be specific issues your group will want to discuss, which you should decide while planning the meeting. Visit the IIC website for most up to date resources and policy briefs for guidance on issues to emphasize.
The Ask is the critical part of the visit when you ask for the Member of Congress to support positive reforms and defend against proposals that would adversely affect immigrant and refugee communities. Listen carefully and ask for clarification if what they say is vague.
Schedule a meeting: Call your Member’s local office to request a meeting (local office numbers can be found on their websites). Make sure to tell them how many other faith leaders and community members would like to attend. If the member is unavailable, ask to meet with staff who work on immigration issues. You may have to send an email or fill out a form. Don’t be discouraged if you need to follow-up for a response.

Sample Meeting Request
Dear Scheduler,
I am writing to request a visit with Rep./Sen. Name in-district from March 26-April 6 at their closest to you office to discuss funding for immigration enforcement, detention, and border militarization.
A group of constituents, representing professional affiliations of group members would like to meet with the Representative/Senator to talk about the impact this funding will have on our community.
Please let me know as soon as you can about Rep./Sen. Name’s availability March 26-April 6. Thank you for your time and attention to this request.
Sincerely,
Name
profession
Religious community/organizations/affiliation if applicable
City, State, Zip Code
List of other Delegation Members

During the Visit:
Introductions
The Facilitator should start the meeting by thanking the Member for their time, introducing the group as a whole, and then having each person introduce themselves. Each participant should say the faith community they represent to show the power of the group.
Personal Story
Someone should share a story about why Members of Congress should reduce funding for detention and deportation and robustly fund refugee resettlement and assistance abroad.
Make the Ask
Our community welcomes refugees and immigrants, and I urge you to reflect the best of our American values of compassion, hospitality, and welcome. Can we count on you to reduce Department of Homeland Security funding for detention, deportation, and border militarization?
When they answer, listen well and take notes. While they may not agree with you on all these issues, try to find common ground to continue to work together on. You’ll likely not convince them to change their mind in one meeting, but you can intentionally build a relationship that can transform their perspective and stance. Much of advocacy involves listening, and providing opportunities for the member to share their priorities and concerns and ask questions. Look for indications of the members’ views, and finding opportunities to provide helpful information or correct misinformation. Members and staff will appreciate the chance to be heard instead of only being talked at. Ask questions and engage in conversation. Answer questions honestly. If you don’t know the answer, say that you don’t know but you will find out. Assign one person in the group to follow up.
Thank You & Invitation
Thank them and invite them to an upcoming prayer vigil, service, or event you are planning. Offer to be a resource to them, and remember to get the staffers’ business cards. Consider asking them to take a photo with your group – most politicians love the photo opportunity!

After the Visit:
Debrief the Meeting
It’s important to make sure you and your group are on the same page immediately after leaving the meeting, while the conversation is fresh in your mind. Make sure to leave the office building, so your debrief conversation won’t be overheard. As a group, review: What did we hear? Did we get what we wanted? What are the next steps? It’s also important to evaluate your group’s work. How did we do as a team? Share the information learned during your meeting with your state coalition, immigrants’ rights groups, and other allies.
Follow Up with your Member of Congress
Choose one person to send a follow up email thanking the Member or staff for their time, attaching the documents mentioned, providing answers to questions that came up during the meeting, and continuing to engage the Member and staff in your group’s work. You can once again make your case against negative proposals and support for positive immigration legislation, and inviting them to an upcoming event.
Call Washington, DC
The local and Washington, DC offices may not communicate about visits, so it’s important to follow up with the DC office as well. The Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121 can connect you to the DC offices of your Senators and Representative. Introduce yourself as a constituent and ask for the staffer who works on immigration. Tell them about your meeting with their local office, and ask what they are doing to support positive reforms and defend against proposals that would adversely affect immigrant and refugee communities.
Tell Us How Your Visit Went!
It’s very important for us know about where members stand on immigration reform. After you meet or speak with someone from your Member’s local and/or DC offices, please fill out this form: goo.gl/l197BJ or go to http://www.interfaithimmigration.org/neighbor. Advocates in DC will then follow up with the DC staff to reinforce your visit and answer any specific questions about legislative proposals. We will also share with you what we are hearing from their DC staff.

Thank you for making these important visits. Please feel free to contact anyone in the Interfaith Immigration Coalition about how we can be supportive of your work. A list of member organizations and contacts can be found at www.interfaithimmigration.org/about/organizations and www.interfaithimmigration.org/about/contact-information.

Members of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition can help support you in setting up visits and connecting you with other people in district if you are having trouble. Please email mowen@cwsglobal.org if you would like support getting connected to others in your area.

Sample Interfaith Talking Points

ASK: We urge Congress to cut DHS funding for detention beds, ICE and CBP agents, and border militarization.

Families are the basic unit of strong communities, and funding detention, deportation, and border militarization serves to separate families and weaken our communities.

Unified families bring stability to individual households and strengthen neighborhoods and communities. Family members help one another navigate a new culture, pursue job opportunities, start businesses, and contribute economically, socially, and spiritually to society.
As faith communities, we know that every family deserves stability and security. Children should not have to live with the fear of their parents being taken away from them at any moment.
Biblical representations of family show the sacredness of a unified family. There are many examples of close relationships between adult children and their parents, including Abraham and Isaac, and Mary and Jesus. There are also examples of siblings remaining close as adults: Mary and Martha, and disciples Simon Peter and Andrew, and James and John.
Families are already being separated. More than 21,000 DACA recipients have lost their protection since DACA was terminated on September 5th – a figure that will skyrocket the longer Congress fails to act. As we reform our laws to prioritize keeping families together, our communities will grow healthier and stronger.
**For more information about family, please visit interfaithimmigration.org/family.**

Money for ICE and CBP is money to deport dreamers and beloved community members we have been unable to protect legislatively.

The Trump administration is systematically making sure more and more people are vulnerable to detention and deportation, including DACA recipients and TPS holders. If you/your boss oppose these policy changes, you must oppose the funding to carry them out.
This administration uses enforcement to purposely instill fear in immigrant communities. Recent examples: father in Ohio who is the sole breadwinner of a 6-year old paraplegic, U.S. citizen child; a Michigan construction worker and father who cooperated with police; and leading immigrant rights activists.
Enforcement continuing even at current levels will exacerbate the community safety crises already playing out wherein families are facing serious health crises without medical care because they are afraid to go to the hospital or doctor, victims of domestic violence are choosing not to call the police, parents are afraid to send their children school, and people seeking to adjust their status are instead targeted for enforcement.
ICE and CBP agents are undertaking arrests and deportations that separate our communities. The Border Patrol functions as a deportation force for border communities, instilling fear by, for example: harassing and detaining a 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy on the way to a hospital for gallbladder surgery; deporting DACA recipients; apprehending parents waiting in a hospital for their infant’s emergency surgery; and arresting a domestic violence survivor at a courthouse seeking a protective order against her abuser.

Money for detention puts lives at risk. Mismanagement and neglect of the immigration detention system has resulted in a network of 200+ jails riddled with abuse and rights violations, including the excessive and arbitrary use of solitary confinement, abuse of force by officers, and deaths attributable to medical negligence. These abuses are compounded by the fact that three quarters of all ICE facilities are governed by out of date and insufficient detention standards dating back to 2000.
CBP and ICE are already grossly over-funded. Since DHS’s creation, ICE’s spending has jumped from just over $3 billion to more than $6 billion, and CBP’s budget has more than doubled.

Resource: AIC fact sheet on DHS’s bloated budget.

DHS is fiscally irresponsible with its funds and has engaged in systemic mismanagement and abuse. Congress must hold DHS accountable.

Resource: DHS’s OIG recently reported on the “persistent management and performance challenges” that are rampant throughout the agency and “hamper efforts to accomplish the homeland security mission efficiently and effectively.”
Resource: DWN and NIJC’s recent report outlines the ways in which ICE manipulates its operational needs descriptions and fiscally mismanages the detention system.

Congress: Don’t Fund Detention, Deportation, or Border Militarization. Invest in Community and Protection.

President Trump has requested billions of dollars more from Congress to hire more immigration enforcement and border patrol agents, permanently expand immigrant detention – including for women, children, and asylum seekers – further militarize bi-national and indigenous border communities, and build costly and ineffectual additional border wall infrastructure. At the same time, he has proposed slashing refugee resettlement and international assistance for displaced persons. As people of faith, we are called to stand against this kind of wasteful and discriminatory spending.
»        Congress should invest in long term solutions rather than endless enforcement. Any funding for agents, detention beds, and border militarization means permanent, expensive changes to the immigration enforcement machinery and billions of dollars spent without addressing the problem: a punitive, outdated immigration system. We call upon Congress to develop bipartisan, comprehensive reform that will offer lasting and real solutions on immigration and fund international programs that help address the root causes of migration.
»        Further fueling the deportation machine and slamming the door for people in need does not represent welcoming communities across the United States. We invite Members of Congress to live up to our nation’s values and act with moral authority. During the worst displacement crisis in history, the U.S. must demonstrate leadership by robustly funding refugee resettlement and support for vulnerable populations in the U.S. and funding humanitarian assistance overseas.
»        Funding for endless enforcement comes at the expense of vital community programs. Education, housing, and nutritional assistance programs promote public safety and alleviate poverty. Poverty-focused international assistance reduces the need for people to have to migrate. Any funding for enforcement reduces funding for these critical programs. Congress has an opportunity to ensure billions of dollars don’t go toward expanding the deportation machine, separating families, or detaining children, and instead are invested in our collective future.
Please reduce funding for endless immigration enforcement and detention in FY18 and FY19.
www.interfaithimmigration.org]]>