The #WelcomeWithDignity Campaign is alarmed that Congress is currently considering budget resolutions that would slash social safety programs and funnel hundreds of billions of dollars into the Trump administration’s cruel regime of mass deportations, detention, and family separation. If passed, this budget bill would leave millions of Americans, including children, without healthcare, life-saving food assistance, and other vital services, while extending massive tax cuts to billionaires. These proposals trade programs that families rely on to survive for policies that will separate children from their parents, return refugees to danger, and destabilize communities across the country. The #WelcomeWithDignity Campaign, which represents 125 member organizations, implores lawmakers to reject these extreme proposals and instead invest in our communities by funding healthcare, education, and services that help everyone thrive.
“As American families struggle to afford groceries and healthcare, Congress is proposing to spend billions on detention camps and deportation flights, while gutting Medicaid and food stamps,” said Kate Jastram, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS). “This is a morally bankrupt proposal that will tear families apart, endanger refugees, and devastate our communities. This budget will benefit no one but the billionaires receiving tax cuts and the private prison companies and military contractors profiting off the suffering of immigrants and people seeking asylum. We urge lawmakers to protect the communities they represent and oppose these budget resolutions.”
“Members of Congress must reject any budget package that funds the Trump administration’s border militarization and deportation machine,” said Amy Fischer, Director of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Program at Amnesty International USA. “The U.S. is not failing to find solutions because it has limited capacity, too few resources, or too many people coming. The U.S. is failing because our leaders prefer to score political points from racist, white supremacist rhetoric than actually listen to impacted communities and invest in solutions that work.”
“Cruelty is the point of these reconciliation budget resolutions, which would bankroll the Trump administration’s rampant human and civil rights violations,” said Azadeh Erfani Director of Policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center. “We call on Congress to rein in the executive branch, rather than write a blank check for exorbitant expansion of the bloated immigration enforcement industry responsible for so much inhumanity and abuse over years. The National Immigrant Justice Center has been fighting back against the crackdown on our immigrant neighbors, families, and community in the Chicago area, as well as against unprecedented attacks on constitutional and asylum rights. Granting billions and billions more to line the pockets of private prison and military contractors, while robbing from our communities’ essential programs and services, would be horrific and inexcusable.”
“The Trump administration’s anti-immigrant, anti-family, and pro-billionaire agenda is taking center stage and sidelining sensible budgetary solutions that support America’s working-class communities,” said Margaret Cargioli, Directing Attorney, Policy and Advocacy at Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef). “Congress must not strip away fundamental resources like Medicaid, food stamps, and student loans to fund a cruel and costly mass detention and deportation campaign. This is a devastating trade off that destroys communities in need just to tear families apart through supercharged deportations.”
“Efforts to cut essential programs for the most vulnerable members of our community while funding deportation efforts would compound harm already being felt by our communities due to the administration’s funding freezes,” said Kristyn Peck, CEO of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA). “Congress should reject these egregious actions that would harm families and communities in the Washington, D.C. metro area and across the country. We urge Congress to focus on solutions that create thriving communities.”
“The budget being considered by lawmakers provides billions of dollars for cruel, anti-immigrant detention and deportation operations, while cutting funding that many people rely on to put food on the table and seek medical care,” said Laura St. John, Legal Director at the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project. “This budget comes at massive expense to families and working class people, allocating over a hundred billion dollars to tear apart families through mass deportation operations and expanded immigration detention. A budget isn’t just about dollars and cents; it is a reflection of our values, and this budget is a betrayal of our core American values. We urge Members of Congress to reject funding for family separation, deportation, and detention and instead pass a budget that properly reflects our values.”
“Congress must reject this cruel budget that prioritizes mass deportations and border militarization over the health and well-being of our communities,” said Fatima Saidi, Director of the We Are All America Coalition. “This proposal is not about fiscal responsibility, it’s about sacrificing immigrant and working families to fund tax breaks for billionaires and fuel a racist, anti-immigrant agenda. Our leaders must choose people over profit and invest in policies that strengthen—not destroy—our communities.”
“$175 billion means forcing a payment of over $500 from each and every one of the 340 million people in the United States right now, for ‘mass deportation,’ detention, a militarized security buildup, and fear in our communities,” said Adam Isacson, Director for Defense Oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America. “Rather than supporting vulnerable families in the U.S., every family of four in America would be paying more than $2,000 to support a historic level of harm, at a time when the U.S.-Mexico border had already been seeing relatively little unauthorized migration. This is an especially malicious example of fiscal irresponsibility.”
“We urge Congress to oppose the expansion of a budget that increases border militarization and prioritize the investment in local communities and the support of working families. Prioritizing the protection of essential programs that assist the most vulnerable members of our local communities is imperative, rather than allocating funds for mass deportation and family separation. Family separation that disproportionately affects indigenous families. ” States Maya Q’anjob’al indigenous Executive Director and CEO of Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim (CMPI), Luis Marcos, “We oppose the budget that increases oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters, which sustain our planet and offer essential nourishment and resources for all communities.”
“The proposed budget resolutions shamefully cut Medicaid and food stamps in exchange for tax cuts for the ultra wealthy and widespread immigration raids,” said Kimiko Hirota, Associate Director of Policy at Church World Service. “We want to build neighborhoods of belonging where all people feel safe going to work, school, the doctor’s office, or places of worship. We urge Members of Congress to reject this massive budget bill that would enable mass detention and deportations of our loved ones and instead pass legislation that helps our communities thrive.”
“This budget resolution is in direct extension of this administration’s anti-immigrant, anti-Black racism agenda. The Trump administration’s plan prioritizes raids in schools, churches, and hospitals, tearing families apart over investing in education, healthcare, or infrastructure. The impact will not be limited to immigrant communities that contribute widely to the economy, it will dramatically affect the American families that are already struggling. There are cruel tactics that will leave the entire country to grapple with instability ” said Guerline Jozef, the Executive Director of Haitian Bridge Alliance “We are calling on Congress to reject this budget. No matter what your political stance is, this is the time to come together and protect the working-class communities, and the farmers and save the lives of those who are vulnerable.”
“The Trump Administration’s anti-immigrant agenda will not only affect immigrant communities; it will also impose a significant cost on all American families. This week, Senate and House Republicans are considering a budget resolution that will divert millions of dollars from Medicaid, Medicare, Snap, food assistance, and other critical programs to fund Trump’s mass deportation and incarceration plans. This administration, along with Congressional Republicans, is prioritizing criminalizing hard working people, with an anti-immigrant agenda that will cause irreparable harm to our communities and the economy by putting millions of American families who depend on these programs at risk. We urge Congress to reject this budget reconciliation proposal and uphold the core values of our country” said Lariza Dugan Cuadra, Executive Director of the Central American Resource Center of Northern California.
“We urge lawmakers to reject budget resolutions that strip communities across the country of vital services, such as healthcare and food assistance, in order to fund the Trump administration’s cruel agenda of mass deportation and family separation,” said Robyn Barnard, Senior Director, Refugee Advocacy at Human Rights First. “With these budget resolutions, politicians are harming hardworking families struggling to put food on their tables – all in order to separate families who have come to the United States seeking safety. Everyone deserves safety, stability, and access to food and healthcare – and we all deserve budget resolutions that put the interests of our communities first.”