To: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (CA-1), Sen. Christopher Murphy (CT-2), Sen. Chris Coons (DE-2), Sen. Brian Schatz (HI-1), Sen. Richard Durbin (IL-1), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA-1), Sen. Chris Van Hollen (MD-2), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI-1), Sen. Am...

Senate Democrats: say NO to funding Trump's wall, deportation force and detention camps.

Trump has a problem. In order to fully implement his dystopian detention and deportation nightmare, he needs Congress to give him more money. Congress must say NO to more money for Trump’s wall, deportation force and detention camps.

Why is this important?

Trump’s goal is clear: this is a request to fund mass deportation. Trump is putting all the pieces in place for his Deportation Force to carry out mass deportation. In addition to the wall, Trump wants to vastly expand detention camps to lock up more immigrants including families seeking asylum, put more agents on the border, expand raid operations that will terrorize communities, and re-direct more federal funds toward prosecution of immigration violations. These rubber-stamp convictions are intended to warp the statistics and bolster their hate-fueled propaganda portraying immigrants as criminals. Trump is building out a police state, in part through his Deportation Force, so that any challenges to his dystopian detention and deportation nightmare can be swiftly and forcefully suppressed.

Already under Trump, we have seen chaos at our airports and in our communities. That chaos and cruelty would only be magnified if Trump gets his way, but in order to implement these plans, he needs more money. We have the power to say NO.

Tell Senate Democrats—especially leadership and members of the Appropriations Committee—to say NO to funding for Trump’s Deportation Force.

On March 16, the Trump administration requested $3 billion from Congress for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to begin funding his executive orders through September 30, 2017. Republicans will need 60 votes to pass any funding bill - and there are only 52 Republicans in the Senate - so Democrats have the power to resist the Trump agenda.

What does $3 billion to DHS pay for?

• $1.4 billion to construct the border wall, a physical symbol of exclusion and hate and a clear waste of taxpayer dollars.
• $1.2 billion for more detention facilities which will fuel the private prison industry and exacerbate existing, sometimes fatal, abuses in these facilities.
• Prepares to hire 1,000 ICE agents in 2018 so more ICE agents will roam communities - including churches and courthouses – creating terror and panic.
• Prepares to hire 500 more CBP agents even though DHS doesn’t meet existing hiring goals because so many applicants fail their polygraph tests.

And this is just the beginning. Trump will need billions and billions in more funding to make his executive orders a reality. President Trump’s immigration agenda spells cruel separation of families and communities. Since his election, ICE has detained DREAMers, gone into courthouses to arrest survivors of domestic violence, deported mothers and fathers, and left families stranded oceans apart through his continued Muslim ban.

Tell Senate Democrats to say NO to funding Trump’s wall, Deportation Force and detention camps.