The House of Representatives is currently considering a mega spending bill that would give the Trump administration up to $200 billion taxpayer dollars that would otherwise go to critical programs like Medicaid, Social Security, CHIP, and SNAP. The $200 billion, split between House Judiciary and House Homeland, would supercharge the Trump administration’s mass detention and deportation machine, providing a windfall to private prison CEO’s while assaulting Constitutionally protected rights and cruelly attacking children.
National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) Director of Policy Azadeh Erfani, said:
“It is hard to overstate the disastrous and unprecedented impact of this mega bill. If passed, the House would green-light the decimation of the U.S. protection system for unaccompanied children by shutting the door on children’s access to critical anti-trafficking protections enshrined in the bipartisan Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA) as well as to safeguards core to the Flores Settlement Agreement. In doing so, the bill would force uniquely vulnerable children into situations of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, abuse, and other dangers. In essence, the U.S. federal government would compete with cartels in exploiting children and their families, seeking thousands of dollars from sponsors and for families to reunify.
“The bill also imposes a wealth tax on legal status that would effectively disqualify the vast majority of indigent immigrants and asylum seekers. The bill includes new fees as a pretext to make harmful policy changes targeting asylum seekers, work permit applicants, and families seeking lawful immigration pathways. It would also dramatically expand U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) detention apparatus, including for family detention, funneled billions to private prison companies, including those with ties to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“One hundred days into this administration, we are clear-eyed that this bill would supercharge Trump’s assault on the U.S. Constitution and our communities in ways never seen before. Every member of Congress must stand up against this bill and reject this inhumane and cruel attempt to rewrite decades of child welfare and humanitarian laws under the veil of a budget reconciliation package.”
The following breaks down some of the most alarming provisions of the House draft reconciliation bill under consideration. Yesterday, the House passed the Homeland portion of the bill, providing $46.5 billion for construction of the deadly border wall and $14.6 billion to Customs and Border Protection for further militarization and surveillance that has already devastated border communities. Today, the House is considering a Judiciary counterpart to the bill, which would:
- Create Barriers to Legal Status: Imposes an unprecedented wealth tax on asylum applications, work permits, parole, Temporary Protected Status, and diversity visas, turning legal immigration into a luxury only the most privileged can afford. This will end access to these life-saving applications for most of the 11,000 people NIJC serves yearly.
- Expand Mass Detention and Creates Dangerous Tent Cities: Funnels billions to private prison owners by expanding family detention without building new facilities—guaranteeing the widespread use of unsafe, unlicensed tent cities where families and children will suffer from poor medical care, neglect, and abuse.
- Extort and Endanger Vulnerable Children: Forces families to pay $3,500 just to sponsor unaccompanied children with an additional $5,000 fee, discourages reunifications through invasive surveillance, and increases the risks of trafficking and exploitation. The bill does an end run around the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, a bipartisan bill that protects unaccompanied children.
- Punish Immigrants for Government Failures: Slaps $100 annual fees on pending asylum cases and on every continuance, forcing immigrants to pay for systemic backlogs and stripping away basic due process rights.
- Evade the Law and Eliminate Accountability: Includes sweeping provisions intended to undo existing court injunctions, enabling the administration to sidestep legal protections and carry out mass disappearances and deportations unchecked.