Did you hear the news? Senate Republicans just folded and agreed to our demands. They voted to fund DHS without more funding for ICE and CBP.¹

In other words: we won.

Because of our efforts, Senate Democrats — under tremendous pressure — held the line. Today, we’ve dealt a powerful blow to Trump’s cruel anti-immigrant agenda.

The fight to protect our communities isn’t over, but today, we're declaring victory.

This isn’t an isolated win. For more than a decade, Bend the Arc and our partners have worked to cut funding for the agencies that detain and deport immigrants, split up families, and terrorize our communities. Our efforts paid off. We just denied ICE and CBP $17 billion more dollars.

This is HUGE, and I want to celebrate with you. Together, our movement of Jews and allies…

💪 Grew our power with a nonstop ground-game in DC, building on more than a decade of work with partners to cut funding for immigrant detention and deportation

📰 Co-wrote a letter — signed by more than 1,000 organizations — and delivered it as a full-page newspaper ad to every member of Congress saying: “Not One More Dollar for ICE & CBP”²

📣 Led the largest-ever protest of Jewish clergy against ICE in DC with our friends at T’ruah³

🛠️ Organized hundreds Jews and allies into action through our movement-wide call, Jews Against ICE: How to Join the Fight

🗣️ Talked to hundreds of Jews in key states through Jews Against ICE phonebanks and patched them through to critical senators

☎️ Drove more than 1,000 calls with our demands to members of Congress

📧 Sent more than 15,000 (!!) emails to more than 500 elected officials with our demands (that’s 90% of Congress!)

The fight to protect our communities, democracy, and futures from Trump’s cruel agenda isn’t over. ICE and CBP are still enacting violence in our communities and House Republicans refused to vote on the bipartisan bill the Senate unanimously passed. And we know Republicans are going to try to funnel even more money to these agencies over the summer.

Here are two ways to keep up the momentum today:

➡️ Email your House Representative and tell them to pass the Senate bill to fund DHS without funding ICE and CBP. They’re back in your community for the next few weeks and we need them to hear loud and clear that when they get back to DC they need to act quickly to cement our movement’s win.

➡️ Help grow the largest-ever movement of Jews and allies to defeat fascism. Your gift of $5, $10, or $18 will power more Jews Against ICE actions, trainings for elected officials on how to dismantle antisemitism, email and call tools to members of Congress, and more.

Shabbat shalom from all of us at Bend the Arc,

Eli Williams-Szenes
Director of Advocacy and Political Affairs, Bend the Arc

Sources:
1. Senate Votes to Fund Most of D.H.S. in Bid to End Partial Shutdown, The New York Times
2. A surprise for every member of Congress today, Bend the Arc
3. NEW VIDEO: Jews Against ICE, Bend the Arc