Separating families seeking safety; putting babies in jails; watching children and adults die due to lack of medical care; solitary confinement, rotten food, and unsanitary conditions in U.S. detention centers; and locking children in vans for days, are just a few of the abuses carried out by our government with U.S. tax dollars.
Faith leaders are raising moral objections to any increase in spending on immigration enforcement. Instead, they want Congress to invest in programs, services, and infrastructure that recognize the God-given humanity of all people.
This memo offers expert sources and materials on a variety of topics that should receive federal funding. It also features resources on the context behind this summer’s spending battle: current DHS funding levels, which are already off the charts, and the gross mismanagement of U.S. tax dollars by federal agencies. For additional details, see this set of border policy recommendations from faith communities.
Contact sources below or Lynn Tramonte (media@interfaithimmigration.org) to interview experts.
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Prioritize investments that respect human dignity
Congress should fund the following programs, services, and structures to insert humanity, compassion, and dignity into U.S. immigration and border policy.
- Enact responsible border policy and involve local communities in decisions that impact their lives. Proposals impacting border communities must include true partnerships with border communities in decision-making; recognize the dignity and humanity of people who are migrating; honor the principle of non-discrimination; strive for social cohesion and inclusion; and uphold the inalienable human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Responsible policies train border authorities in global best practices, including limiting the use of force, and training that prioritizes saving people’s lives and avoiding tactics that endanger them. It is equally critical that the United States wholly welcomes asylum seekers and immigrants; provides access to interpretation in a language they understand, along with information about their rights, freedoms, protections, cultural liaisons, and legal assistance.
- Invest in critical U.S. programs that aid unaccompanied children. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) bears responsibility for the care and custody of immigrant children who arrive in the United States unaccompanied (or are forcibly separated from their parents) pending their immigration court proceedings, many of whom are later reunified with a loved one. ORR is in the best position to ensure that unaccompanied children under the protection of the U.S. government receive the full continuum of care they deserve, including: proper shelter and care in the best interest of the child while in ORR custody; community-based services once released; and access to legal assistance. ORR must be fully funded to ensure the agency can provide the full continuum of care, as well as to reunify children with their family members, from whom they were separated, and sponsors.
- Treat immigrants detained at the border and in the interior humanely. Passing the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act (H.R.2415, S.697) would increase oversight over ICE immigration detention and ensure access to health screenings, medical care, nutrition, water, and sanitation services. It is equally important that the same oversight and access to services is exerted over CBP facilities and processing.
- Fund community-based alternatives to immigrant detention, which have proved to be “safer than a detention-based approach, vastly less expensive, and far more effective at ensuring compliance with government-imposed requirements,” according to the National Immigrant Justice Center. Passing the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act (H.R. 2415, S. 697) would also expand access to these programs.
- Support communities providing care to newcomers and asylum seekers. Communities from San Diego to Brownsville are caring for and providing the welcome our administration refuses to extend. Congress should be investing resources to allow community-based, non-governmental organizations to work alongside federal agencies to care for and provide support to families and individuals navigating legal proceedings.
- Provide access to refugee protections for Central Americans. The U.S. government should restore the original Central American Minors (CAM) program that offered a chance for children to find safety in the United States and reunify with a parent—without undermining access to asylum in the United States or at a U.S. border. In addition, the administration should expand refugee resettlement programs to provide Central American refugees with much-needed alternatives to making the long journey north to claim asylum at the U.S./Mexico border.
- Fund ORR to assist all vulnerable populations the agency is mandated to serve. For multiple years, ORR has reprogrammed funding for refugee resettlement services to meet the needs of unaccompanied children. Congress must ensure adequate funding for all populations within ORR’s mandate, including refugees, trafficking survivors, asylees, torture survivors, unaccompanied children, Special Immigration Visa (SIV) holders, and others.
- SOURCES: Church World Service; Offices of Senator Murphy, Sen. Van Hollen, and Rep.DeLauro
- Restore U.S. moral leadership in refugee protection. The world is experiencing the worst crisis of displaced people in history, with over 68 million people pushed from their homes, and 25 million refugees worldwide. Yet, the Trump administration has reduced the number of refugees resettled in the United States by 75%, and set this year’s admissions goal at 30,000 – the lowest level in U.S. history. Congress should pass the GRACE Act (S.1088 / H.R.2146), preventing the President from setting a refugee admissions goal at a level below 95,000 – the historic average. Congress should also use the power of the purse to hold the administration to meeting its very low admissions goal of 30,000 and restore refugee admissions to 95,000 in FY 2020.
- SOURCES: Church World Service; Refugee Council USA; Oxfam America
- Provide international aid for community-building programs that “counter violence, strengthen justice systems, spur economic opportunities, and safeguard communities from climate displacement, so that people do not need to flee in search of safety or survival,” in the words of Human Rights First.
Stop funding tools that disregard migrants’ humanity
Federal spending on border and immigration enforcement has skyrocketed since the 1990s. Border militarization, mass incarceration of immigrants, and an abhorent lack of oversight have led to unspeakable human tragedies, including the recent deaths of children and transgender migrants in U.S. custody and the misuse of solitary confinement.
U.S. taxpayers should know what immigration restrictions their hard-earned paychecks are funding, how the administration is mismanaging federal tax dollars, and the consequences for human lives. This summer’s funding debate begins with the following policies and structures already in place:
- 20k border agents: In 1993, the United States had just over 4,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents. In FY 2018, there were nearly 20,000. The vast majority (16,000) operate along the Southern Border. (Source: American Immigration Council)
- 8k deportation agents: In FY 2003, there were just over 2,700 deportation agents working for ICE. In FY 2018, that number had grown to 8,000. (Source: American Immigration Council)
- 6,500 “special” agents for criminalizing workers: ICE also has 6,500 agents within their Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit. HSI has been involved in massive workplace immigration raids and other initiatives aimed at criminalizing work. (Sources: American Immigration Council, Immigrant Legal Resource Center)
- ICE spending +103%: Spending on ICE functions, including immigrant detention and deportation, has increased from $3.3 to $6.7 billion since the creation of DHS. (Source: American Immigration Council)
- CBP spending +149%: Likewise, funding for Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol, also skyrocketed between FY 2003 and FY 2019, from $5.9 billion to $14.7 billion. (Source: American Immigration Council)
The mass incarceration of immigrants deserves separate attention:
- Immigrant detention +600%, largest level in history: The government is currently incarcerating 52,000 immigrants in more than 200 jails across the United States. This is the largest number of immigrants detained for civil immigration cases in history, up from 7,000 in FY 1994. (Sources: Buzzfeed News; The Marshall Project)
- This is 10k more humans than the number Congress authorized: Congress appropriated money to detain 40,520 immigrants, which is already too high, but this was not enough for ICE. In FY 2018, ICE took money from other programs to expand immigration detention far beyond what Congress authorized. (Source: National Immigrant Justice Center)
- This is actually human warehousing: It is called “civil detention,” but in reality, it is jail, with all the same restrictions on liberty and conditions of confinement. ICE consistently opposes release of any and all immigrants eligible eligible for bond. The agency even fights the release of asylum-seekers who have won their cases. The goal is to break people’s spirits so that they give up and accept deportation. Congress should not participate in this tactic of abuse by funding it. (Source: ACLU)
- The deaths in CBP and ICE custody and recent DHS Inspector General reports point to the need for more oversight of detention and the robust use of alternatives to incarceration. The administration must be held accountable for abuse and poor conditions in immigration jails, both public and private. Functioning alternatives to detention should be the default policy rather than incarceration. (Sources: Detention Watch Network, Freedom For Immigrants)
- Mass incarceration of immigrants is big business for private prison industry: Over 60% of detained immigrants are held in private prisons, and U.S. taxpayers pay 52% more to detain immigrants in these jails as compared to government-run facilities. (Source: Freedom For Immigrants). A day after the 2016 presidential election, stock prices rose 21% for GEO Group and 43% for CoreCivic. In FY 2017, the two companies raked in a combined $4 billion in revenue. (Source: Migration Policy Institute).
Said Katie Adams, policy advocate for domestic issues with the United Church of Christ, and co-chair of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition:
The monetary cost of these programs and policies is astronomical; the human cost, incalculable. Where we put our money speaks to a larger truth about U.S. Immigration policies. The bias toward detention and banishment, and the emphasis on criminalization, deny migrants’ humanity and dignity. All people should be treated with compassion and care. As faithful communities, we believe that God says “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me,” meaning: when we deny aid, shelter, food, water, and kindness to immigrants, we are denying it to God.
Just by labeling something “humanitarian assistance” doesn’t mean it is. The very definition of humanitarian is “pertaining to saving of human lives and alleviation of suffering.” The funding the administration is requesting for more incarceration, more deportation, more repression, and less dignity is anything but humanitarian.
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is made up of 52 national, faith-based organizations brought together across many theological traditions with a common call to seek just policies that lift up the God-given dignity of every individual. In partnership, we work to protect the rights, dignity, and safety of all refugees and migrants.
Follow us on Twitter @interfaithimm
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