| Dear Katy, Donald Trump cares more about caging immigrants than helping hurricane survivors. Sen. Jeff Merkley broke the news last night that Trump stole nearly $10 million from FEMA's budget to pay for ICE internment camps.1 This is a slap in the face to Americans still suffering in Puerto Rico and those who are preparing to evacuate before Hurricane Florence hits the East Coast tomorrow. We must join together now to stop Trump and Republicans from manipulating the budget to supercharge ICE again. Right now, Republicans are trying to jam through a continuing resolution (CR) that would add millions to ICE's already inflated budget.2 To stop this attack, we need Democrats and Republicans of good conscience to reject ICE's special funding request and block any bill that expands this rogue agency. Will you add your voice now? Tell Congress: Stop funding ICE terror. Block any bill that expands Trump's criminalization and deportation agenda. Click here to sign the petition. ICE has successfully increased its budget for immigrant detention, enforcement and removal by nearly $1 billion over the past two years through persistent manipulation of the appropriations process.3 In both fiscal years 2017 and 2018, the agency overspent its budget with the assumption that Congress would bail it out. Then, it requested funding from Congress to compensate for its overspending, which Congress approved. Finally, ICE used its inflated budget as a starting point for the following year's funding negotiations. Now, ICE is trying to appropriate millions more detention dollars by adding a fourth step to this vicious cycle. Outside of extraordinary circumstances, a CR only includes level funding to keep a department running while Congress negotiates its final budget for the year. ICE is planning to attach an anomaly to the 2019 DHS CR that would appropriate millions of detention dollars. It is a blatant attempt to ratchet up its baseline budget before final funding negotiations begin. We cannot let Trump Republicans and ICE get away with manipulating the appropriations process again. During the clean DREAM Act fight last year, Republicans' racism and xenophobia was on full display when they shut down the government to advance their anti-immigrant agenda. Now, with the massive public outrage over ICE abusing children and ripping families apart at the border still growing, Trump's lap dogs in Congress are doing everything they can to avoid another budget fight that would force their hate into the light before the midterm elections.4 It's up to us to put their latest attack on the public's radar and push Congress to stop them from quietly expanding ICE through a CR. We must make clear to every member Congress that a vote for a CR or any bill that adds millions to ICE's budget is a vote to rip American families apart and escalate Trump's reign of terror on immigrant communities. Will you join us and our friends at Detention Watch Network in urging Democrats and Republicans of good conscience to do the right thing? Tell Congress: Stop funding ICE terror. Block any bill that expands Trump's criminalization and deportation agenda. Click the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/block_ice_funding?t=7&akid=30017%2E12967895%2EAkNsrc Thanks for fighting back, Nicole Regalado, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Frank Dale, "Trump took $10 million from FEMA's budget to pay for ICE detention centers," ThinkProgress, Sept. 11, 2018.
- Ted Barrett and Lauren Fox, "Shutdown deadline looms as Congress returns to fight over funding," CNN, Sept. 4, 2018.
- National Immigrant Justice Center, "By the Numbers: Manipulation of the Appropriations Process Fuels Detention Expansion," August 2018.
- Kayla Tausche, "Showdown – and potential shutdown – loom over border funding," CNBC, Aug. 31, 2018.
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