Washington, DC — Members of Congress are lending their support of Detention Watch Network’s (DWN) Communities Not Cages campaign relaunch, renewing calls to shut down Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers and stop the expansion of facilities as constituents across the country denounce the Trump administration’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda that was just supercharged with the passage of the MAGA megabill.
The bill provides a shocking $150 billion for the targeting, detention, and deportation of people, including $45 billion for ICE detention to detain families and adults over the next four years. This bill is 13 times ICE’s current fiscal budget which is already operating at a historic high, and will be in addition to ICE’s annual budget that Congress greenlights each year. Shockingly, ICE’s budget now exceeds many militaries around the world.
“In this critical moment, it’s important for us to relaunch the Communities Not Cages campaign to draw attention to the people across the country who are uniting to protect their family members, neighbors, and friends,” said Marcela Hernandez, Detention Watch Network. “In the face of the administration’s unrelenting expansion of immigration detention, communities across the country are demanding to halt detention expansion and shut down detention centers.”
In support of the Communities Not Cages campaign, members of Congress issued the following statements:
Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, said: “Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant, mass deportation agenda has needlessly ripped families apart, spread fear throughout our communities, and trampled on our most basic constitutional rights. Now, Trump and Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill would triple ICE’s annual detention and enforcement budget, funneling tens of billions of dollars into lawless raids while ripping health care away from 17 million Americans. I am especially alarmed at the Administration’s plans to open two ICE detention centers in California, including reopening FCI Dublin, which was shut down just last year due to officials’ failure to protect inmates from sexual violence. This expansion will do nothing to improve our immigration system and will only greenlight further injustice from Donald Trump and his loyalists.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-FL, said: “The expansion of this inhumane treatment betrays the values and communities we represent. I’ll continue to fight these brutal policies, but we can't do it alone. It takes all of us to defend our freedom."
Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, D-IL, said: "ICE detentions have reached an unprecedented high. And now under Trump’s orders, Republicans in Congress have shifted $150 billion more into immigration and border enforcement—transforming ICE into the largest police force in the nation, with more detention capacity than the entire federal prison system combined. This massive funding boost will only supercharge Trump and Stephen Miller’s deportation machine, meaning more raids, more kidnappings, more families torn apart, and blatant disregard for due process. We cannot let this become normal. We must organize and fight back—because silence is not neutrality, it’s surrender."
Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-NM, said: “I'm proud to lead the charge to promote safety, dignity, and humanity in our immigration system. Republicans just approved billions in increased funding for detention centers, and it’s more essential than ever more that we hold this Administration accountable. The federal government has no right to operate without transparency and abuse and injure innocent human beings behind closed doors. Any violation of due process or undermining of our Constitution is a threat to all Americans.”
Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-FL, said: “The concerns folks have expressed to me are drenched in extreme terror as they wonder, ‘What does the future hold for me and my family?’ The fear of families being torn apart by extreme deportation policies is widespread in South Florida. People feel hopeless and helpless as they confront a future filled with hate and disdain towards people of color. My office strives to guide them through the legal process and serves as a consistent and loyal sounding board, ready to offer resources and advice. These are not normal times in America. By way of a congressional resolution, I am encouraging members of Congress to visit ICE Detention centers to provide oversight in order to maintain some semblance of dignity and accountability. That is why I am proud to join Detention Watch Network in calling for oversight and accountability, including visits to ICE detention centers like Krome, to ensure dignity and humane treatment. We must expose and oppose the rapid expansion of detention facilities and Detention Watch Network is on the frontlines of this fight.”
The Communities Not Cages campaign originally launched in 2018 under the first Trump administration. In 2021 the campaign escalated to “First Ten to Communities Not Cages” which resulted in the closure of six detention facilities at the time. Today’s relaunch kicks off revamped campaign materials, including a new logo, detention expansion map, artwork, and campaign spotlight on the 10 facilities that will be shared on DWN’s social media channels in the coming weeks.
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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.