ACLU Response to Immigration Provisions in Proposed Federal Budget

WASHINGTON — Congress will soon vote on the White House-approved omnibus bill, which provides billions of dollars for the Trump administration to continue its relentless attacks on immigrants and with complete disregard for fundamental constitutional and human rights.

Lorella Praeli, director of immigration policy and campaigns at the American Civil Liberties Union, had the following response:

“There is no art in this deal. Republicans and Democrats alike are gloating about their purported successes in this omnibus while Dreamers are being cheated. The omnibus continues to fund initiatives that deputize local law enforcement to act as agents of ICE, operations and infrastructure that militarize our border, and over $4 billion to fund ICE detention and deportations.

“No one deserves more blame than Donald Trump. He said Dreamers could rest easy because he has a big heart, and yet has rejected bipartisan proposals, walked away from pledges he made, cowardly points the fingers at others for his failures, and now for the fifth time since he abruptly ended DACA in September, immigrant youth have been abandoned by the president. Despite having claimed to want a ‘bill of love’ for Dreamers, this bill exposes Trump’s real priorities — to massively expand the unrelenting dragnet of Border Patrol and ICE and condemn DACA-recipients and their families to the purgatory of continued uncertainty.

“Immigrant youth and their communities deserve better from their elected leadership, and the ACLU will continue to be engaged in public education efforts to ensure Trump is held accountable. He broke DACA and he must fix it.”