We are glad that Democratic leaders ensured that Congress’s $1.3 billion spending bill provided no increase in funding for U.S. immigration detention. However, if Congress is serious about blocking the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, it should include a moratorium on the expansion of immigration detention in the budget.
That said, the $1.6 billion allocated for the construction of the border wall is a massive waste of taxpayer dollars. More importantly, it comes at the expense of human lives and wildlife. This money would be better spent in addressing our communities’ most pressing needs, like affordable housing and health care, not a president’s racially motivated — and pointless —
scheme.
-Liz Martinez, Director of Advocacy and Strategic Communications, Freedom For Immigrants