Today, the U.S. Senate passed a massive spending bill designed to force the President’s domestic policy wish list through Congress. HIAS condemns this egregious legislation as a direct assault on American values and the safety of refugee and immigrant communities.
“The Senate-passed version of the bill, if signed into law, would hurt millions of people throughout the country, with a laser focus on gutting immigrant communities,” said Naomi Steinberg, HIAS Vice President of U.S. Policy and Advocacy. “The bill is essentially a slush-fund that will turbo-charge more raids, detentions, and rapid-fire deportations that defy basic due process norms. Simultaneously, it leaves refugee communities without access to support for basic needs. This is a dark day for the country, and we must bear witness to the terror this bill could bring.”
The bill contains a staggering $126 billion for border and immigration enforcement measures, including $32 billion to hire ICE agents to arrest 600,000 people each year, $45 billion to build 150 new detention facilities and detain over 100,000 immigrants per year, including children, and $47 billion for border wall construction. Less than 5% of the immigration funding is designated for security screening, and less than 2% for addressing the backlogs in immigration courts.
The bill would also deny affordable healthcare and food assistance for well over 10 million people, including refugees and asylees settled in the United States, leaving already vulnerable individuals susceptible to hunger and illness. Furthermore, if this disaster of a bill becomes law, humanitarian protection programs would become inaccessible as asylum seekers, humanitarian parolees, and applicants for Temporary Protected Status, amongst others, would have to pay exorbitant fees to file applications for protection and to work.
As the legislation heads to the House of Representatives, HIAS urges all Members of Congress to reject the harsh and brutal vision that it represents, and to stand for the principles of welcome and human dignity that make this country ‘big and beautiful.’
For press inquiries, please contact media@hias.org.