Washington, DC — Today, the House of Representatives passed the Trump and MAGA backed megabill that is one step closer to substantially increasing Trump’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda. The bill provides a shocking $150 billion for immigration enforcement – the targeting, detention, and deportation of people – including $45 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention to detain families and adults over the next four years at the expense of vital programs for all Americans. The bill now moves to the Senate.
As the bill stands now, distribution of funds related to detention and immigration enforcement, include:
- $45 billion for ICE detention, including to detain both single adults and families
- $69 billion to militarize the border, including funding for border wall construction, CBP agents and vehicles, and border surveillance technology
- $27 billion for a host of items that will further the Trump administration’s cruelty, including for hiring additional ICE personnel, deporting and disappearing immigrants and migrants, including unaccompanied children and more
- $12 billion for a grant program designed to reimburse states who enact anti-immigrant policies
- $5 billion to the Department of Defense to deploy military personnel to the border and to detain migrants
Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director of Detention Watch Network, offered the following statement:
“If this bill passes it will go down in history as a seismic failure and stain on our nation’s history for directing billions of taxpayer dollars toward cruel and callous immigration enforcement at the expense of critical programs that support millions of Americans, including Medicaid, food assistance, and clean energy. People are struggling right now – and instead of halting Trump’s obsessively cruel mass detention and deportation agenda, members of the House have greenlit a cash infusion to supercharge it and cause immeasurable harm.
This bill skyrockets ICE’s budget to never before seen funding levels. ICE will now have 13 times its current fiscal budget for detention, which is already operating at a historic high, on top of the funding in ICE’s annual budget that Congress sets each year.
This bill will destabilize entire communities by causing the separation of loved ones, food insecurity and loss of healthcare coverage for families, and abuse and death of immigrants at an unimaginable scope and scale. It is shocking to see our elected officials prioritize politics and profit over the wellbeing of their constituents, including immigrants who are vital and valued members of our communities. We applaud House Democrats for voting no, and demand that members of the Senate listen to their constituents and vote down this cruel bill that will impact millions of Americans. Now more than ever, we need real leaders who aren’t afraid to unite against Trump and advocate for the rights and dignity of everyone, including immigrants.”
###
Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States.