Dear Defund Hate Community,

President Biden is requesting an additional $8.7 billion dollars to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) including 4.5 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and 2.5 billion for Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Congressmembers are also proposing extremist anti-asylum policies and pushing for more funding to ICE and CBP in exchange for more foreign militarized spending.

The extreme lasting changes being proposed to immigration policy as part of the supplemental funding negotiations could eviscerate the asylum system as we know. To that, we say: immigrants and people seeking asylum should not be pawns in a political game to appease fear-mongering politicians.

The $7.8 billion to ICE + CBP adds over 1000 border patrol agents to the already largest law enforcement agency in the country and increases detention capacity and continues to outsource militarized immigration enforcement to other countries.

Just think about what could be achieved with that extra $7.8 billion instead (source: National Priorities Project):

• Providing public housing for 810,000 households.

• Extending healthcare access to 1.58 million adults living in poverty.

• Offering early learning services to 610,000 children from low-income families.

• Supporting the resettlement of 1.4 million refugees.

• Empowering 19.37 million homes with solar energy.
  

ICE and CBP are already granted $25 billion of our tax dollars every year. The Defund Hate Campaign rejects the proposal that would provide these deadly agencies MORE funding to surveil, detain, deport, and militarize communities.

There are currently 40,000 people in immigration detention - the highest number ever under the Biden admin and for decades, U.S. border regions have endured massive wasteful and unchecked militarization of border enforcement. Border Patrol’s policies are deeply rooted in the U.S. history of over-policing Black, Brown and Indigenous people.  

We demand that our elected officials immediately reprioritize and fulfill their duty to provide the public services that people desperately need instead of spending money on immigration enforcement and weapons to send abroad.  

A more militarized world with more weapons is not a safer one.

We urge lawmakers to oppose efforts to add billions of dollars for immigrant detention and border militarization, and safeguard critical asylum protections.

Continue to take action with us at this critical time!