Skip to main content
NIJC has a new Chicago address at 111 W. Jackson Blvd, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60604 and a new email domain at @immigrantjustice.org.

Media Inquiries

Contact NIJC Communications Director Tara Tidwell Cullen at (312) 833-2967 or by email.

The House Appropriations Committee this week is scheduled to mark up and vote on a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) for fiscal year 2019, even as thousands of parents whose children were taken by CBP remain in ICE prisons and it becomes increasingly clear that the Trump administration never had a plan to reunite their families.

The DHS budget bill provides $51.4 billion in discretionary funding, a massive increase for an agency whose enforcement budget has already more than doubled since its inception in 2003.

“Members of Congress must vote no on this bill and, just as importantly, hold DHS accountable for its fiscally irresponsible and morally reprehensible actions by cutting funds for immigration detention and enforcement,” said NIJC Director of Policy Heidi Altman. “American taxpayers should not be forced to pay for an incarceration and deportation system that routinely operates outside the bounds of the U.S. Constitution, laws, fundamental human right principles, and basic morality.”

The bill going to mark up on Wednesday, among other things, provides: $5 billion for an unnecessary and harmful border wall; 400 new ICE officers and 375 new CBP officers; and the expansion of immigration detention to jail approximately 44,000 people daily, totalling nearly 375,000 immigrants jailed on a yearly basis.

As House appropriators meet to debate the DHS funding bill:

Enough is enough. NIJC calls on Congress to VOTE NO on the FY19 House Appropriations DHS spending bill.

ACT NOW: Tell your elected officials to hold DHS accountable for its ongoing rights abuses through significant cuts to its detention and enforcement budget.