The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) condemns the U.S. Senate passage of its inhumane budget resolution that would slash vital federal programs, including SNAP and Medicaid, in order to direct up to $350 billion toward President Trump’s mass detention and deportation agenda. The Senate passed its resolution along party lines by a thin 52-48 margin.
Next week the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on its own budget proposal, which similarly calls for massive cuts to lifesaving programs that millions of families and children across the country depend on, such as SNAP and Medicaid. NIJC is grateful for members of Congress who have spoken out against this brazen attempt to provide a financial windfall for private prison and border contractors who profit from the targeting of immigrant communities.
NIJC’s Director of Policy Azadeh Erfani responded with the following statement:
“This budget resolution would further decimate and terrorize our immigrant communities, while robbing federal programs that feed and keep families healthy. This week alone, the Trump administration deported asylum seekers to third countries, partially vacated Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, and resumed kangaroo court hearings for individuals subject to the Remain in Mexico program — all in violation of binding law. The Senate and the House budget resolutions abdicate members' duty toward the most vulnerable members of our communities while handing the Trump administration a blank check to continue their campaign of lawless cruelty. Once again, we call on members of Congress to protect all our communities and advance a reconciliation budget that centers our shared humanity.”
The Senate budget resolution:
- Expands the deportation machine. Congress appropriated over $9.1 billion to ICE for fiscal year 2024. The Senate budget resolution could allow up to $350 billion to be used to detain and deport families, asylum seekers, workers, and longtime residents. The dramatic increase in funding for widespread arrests and deportations would tear communities apart, leaving children without caregivers and exacerbating fear where parents are scared to send children to school.
- Lines the pockets of private prison executives. The U.S. government already spends over $3 billion a year on the largest immigration detention apparatus in the world. Privately operated facilities hold more than 90% of people in detention and spend millions to lobby for more ICE detention. The Senate budget resolution would give the Trump administration more than enough for the 100,000 detention beds that Trump’s so-called “border czar” Tom Homan has said the administration wants.
- Lays the groundwork to expand family separations and mass incarceration. The Trump administration has already ordered the prioritization of federal prosecutions for immigration-related offenses, including for simply entering or remaining in the United States without permission. Under the first Trump administration, such prosecutions were behind the family separation program and were used to fill prisons that enrich private prison corporations. A steep influx in funding for immigration prosecutions now would lead to more family separations, bolster ICE raids, and further siphon government resources from other programs.
- Funds the U.S.-Mexico border wall. The reconciliation bill could create a 10-year, multibillion dollar slush fund for the border wall at the U.S.-Mexico border — a widely opposed project that has been associated with fraud and waste.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have voiced concerns about the detrimental impact that cuts to programs like Medicaid would have on their constituents. We urge members to speak out in opposition to the House budget proposal next week and demand a budget that funds communities — not billionaires looking to cash in on government contracts and inhumane immigration policies.