Today, the Senate passed a catastrophic funding bill that previously passed the House on majority partisan lines. This funding bill keeps the government funded through September of this year, and is a substitute for bipartisan negotiated appropriations bills and reports that typically accompany Congressional funding for federal agencies. Some appropriators offered a sensible 30-day stopgap alternative so appropriations negotiations could continue, but the Senate instead proceeded to pass the partisan bill ahead of the March 15th shutdown deadline. This partisan legislation will cede authority to the Trump administration, granting broad discretion on how to direct funding to wreak more havoc on all our communities, including: nearly $500 million additional funds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to give the agency a nearly $10 billion budget; shortchanging a number of essential programs including veterans, seniors, and children; and stripping away critical funding directives and transparency requirements essential to Congressional oversight.
National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) Policy Director Azadeh Erfani responded:
“By passing this bill, Congress is ceding control to a reckless Executive Branch that has already cost people thousands of jobs, cut funding for critical research and services, and terrorized our immigrant communities. Just this week, the Trump administration was on record deporting U.S. citizen children, jailing families and children as young as one year old, jailing and prosecuting asylum seekers with temporary protected status, detaining and threatening to deport university students for their exercise of free speech, and much more. This cruelty should raise alarm for lawmakers across the political spectrum. Instead, Senators handed a blank check for Trump to inflict more chaos on all our communities.
“We cannot overstate the harms that immigrants and asylum seekers will suffer in particular. Yesterday, NIJC filed a motion in federal court with over 22 recorded Fourth Amendment violations by ICE and its surrogates in the Midwest — against immigrants and U.S. citizens alike. These unlawful and brutal enforcement actions have led to hospitalizations, family separations, the detention of domestic violence survivors, and the disappearance of small business owners and employers who contribute to our economy. Handing ICE hundreds of millions more at this juncture, with no congressional control, will only supercharge this cruelty.
“With this vote, the Senate handed control to an Executive Branch seeking to operate with impunity. Let this be a moment of reckoning that our communities deserve better. That is why NIJC joined over 160 faith-based and nonprofit groups denouncing this legislation. Our fight to protect immigrant communities has never mattered more.”