U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-6250

Re: Hearing Titled “How Mass Deportations Will Separate American Families, Harm Our Armed Forces, and Devastate Our Economy”

Dear Members of the Committee:

Thank you for holding today’s hearing to consider the devastating impact of the incoming administration’s plans to conduct mass deportations. President-elect Trump has promised to build massive detention camps, conduct sweeping raids, and forcibly remove beloved and longstanding members of our communities from our country. These plans will tear families apart, devastating countless communities and industries across the country. As you prepare to defend against this expected harm, our 132 civil rights, human rights, faith-based, children's rights, and immigrant rights organizations implore you to recognize the role of Congress in enabling or preventing these operations and take appropriate action to defend immigrant communities in ongoing funding and budget negotiations.

Throughout the coming months, there will be multiple opportunities for members to restrict resources for the abusive immigration enforcement programs that would drive mass deportations. Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 funding levels remain unresolved, with negotiations likely to be extended into the next Congress. Meanwhile, we expect to see the Trump administration weaponize the budget reconciliation process in an effort to extract the exorbitant taxpayer dollars needed to implement his enforcement plans. Our communities need Congress to act as the first line of defense and to use its budgetary, fiscal, and authorizing power to deny the next administration the funding necessary to carry out their inhumane and costly attack on immigrants.

For years, our organizations have urged Congress to reduce immigration enforcement funding, understanding the resulting harm and trauma inflicted on immigrant communities. It is now more urgent than ever to put an end to the pattern of continuous wasteful spending that has already allowed the funding for agencies responsible for immigration enforcement to skyrocket by over 200% since 2003. Additionally, we urge Congress to protect against the incoming administration subverting Congressional intent by restricting the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) authority to transfer or reprogram funding for the purposes of operationalizing mass deportations. Advocates have long sounded the alarm at the agencies’ consistent disregard for and manipulation of Congressional appropriations, and we expect these tactics to continue at increasingly obscene levels. Congress must exert its authority to hold these agencies accountable.

Federal funds will be pivotal in deciding the scope of the harm the next administration will be able to inflict on immigrant communities. Our communities need funding for housing, education, and other social needs, not the proposed catastrophic enforcement and deportation dragnet. As stewards of these vital resources, members of Congress must inhibit President-elect Trump’s draconian plans for mass deportations through the budget and appropriations process for the well-being and safety of all our communities.

Sincerely,

18 Million Rising
AAPI New Jersey
ACLAMO
Afghans For A Better Tomorrow
African Communities Together (ACT)
ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal
Alliance San Diego
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
American Families United
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
Americans for Immigrant Justice
Amnesty International USA
ANAR
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California
Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP)
Avodah
Ayuda
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
Bend The Arc: Jewish Action California
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Champaign Urbana
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Long Island
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Maryland
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Memphis
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Ohio
Bend The Arc: Jewish Action Pittsburgh
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Riverdale
Bend The Arc Jewish Action: South Jersey
Borderlands Resource Initiative
Border Workers United
CASA
CATA - The Farmworker Support Committee
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
Center for Popular Democracy
Church World Service
Coalición de Derechos Humanos
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
Coalition on Human Needs
Communities United for Status & Protection (CUSP)
Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim
Congregation Action Network
Detention Watch Network
DIRE Legal Services
Disciples Home Missions
Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Washington DC
Drug Policy Alliance
Equality Labs
First Friends of New Jersey & New York
Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project
Food Justice DMV
Freedom for Immigrants
Free Migration Project
H-CAN Immigration & Refugees group
Human Rights First
Immigrant Defenders Law Center
Immigrant Defense Project
Immigrant Freedom Fund (CO)
Immigrant Justice Committee, Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis
Immigrant Justice Network
Immigrant Legal Resource Center
Immigration Hub
Indivisible
International Refugee Assistance Project
Japanese American Citizens League
Japanese American Citizens League Philadelphia Chapter
Jesuit Social Research Institute
Jewish Community Action
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ)
Justice for Migrant Women
Just Neighbors
Keshet
LatinoJustice PRLDEF
Lazos America Unida
Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention
Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants
Make the Road NY
Mi Familia Vota
MomsRising
MoveOn
Muslim Advocates
Mutual Aid Immigration Network
National Council of Jewish Women
National Immigrant Justice Center
National Immigration Law Center
National Immigration Project
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund
National Organization for Women
National Partnership for New Americans
National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
Never Again Action
New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice
New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice
New Jersey Consortium for Immigrant Children
New Labor
New York Jewish Agenda
NextGen America
NM Communidades en Accion Y de Fe (NM CAFe)
Northern New Jersey Sanctuary Coalition
Oregon Project Voice
Palestinian American Community Center
Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition
Public Counsel
Refugee Support Network, RSN
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network
San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium (SDIRC)
Showing Up for Racial Justice
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas - Justice Team
Social Workers for Immigration Justice
Society of the flora, fauna & friend
Sojourners
Southeast Dignity not Detention Coalition
Southern Border Communities Coalition
SPAN Parent Advocacy Network
T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
The Advocates for Human Rights
The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United)
The Shalom Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center
The Workers Circle
Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice
United African Organization
United We Dream
Vecindarios901
Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center
Witness at the Border