ACLU Comment on Biden Administration’s Border Supplemental Funding Request

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced today a $100 billion emergency supplemental funding request to Congress that includes nearly $14 billion for border and immigration spending. Portions of this funding would support humanitarian services at the border and in other cities working to receive migrants, and would reduce backlogs in employment authorization permits for migrants and asylum seekers. The supplemental request also outlines significant funding for additional border patrol agents and the expansion of immigration detention.

Maribel Hernández Rivera, director of policy and government affairs, border and immigration at the ACLU, had the following reaction:

“The Biden administration is right to request support for communities receiving migrants and to hire more asylum officers and immigration judges – properly implemented, these funds could provide much needed assistance to cities and states. But it is absolutely wrong to pair these solutions with increases in funding for border patrol and immigrant detention that will put people at serious risk of inhumane and abusive treatment.

“The supplemental request would pour billions into the already bloated budgets of Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the largest law enforcement agency in the country. CBP has a long history of racial discrimination and abusing children and families they encounter. There is simply no logical basis for funneling billions of additional taxpayer dollars into arresting, detaining, and deporting people seeking safety.”