State-wide Day of Action to Pressure Members of Congress to Oppose Trump’s Deportation Budget, Highlight Dire Consequences of Deportation and Immigrant Detention
Led by the Statewide #PaResist table, rallies will feature empty pairs of shoes to symbolize relatives and friends detained and deported because of proposed federal budget
READING – On Wednesday, August 2nd, immigrants and their allies in cities around the state will call on Pennsylvania’s members of Congress to reject President Trump’s anti-immigrant budget, particularly the use of private immigration detention centers and its focus on deportation. They happen on the same day that national allies from New York, New Jersey and other states will take action to highlight JPMorgan Chase’s role in these same private detention centers, under the banner “Taken from Us.”
“Within the last month Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kelley has indicated that people should be prepared for the DACA program to end (placing hundreds of thousands of DREAMERS at immediate risk of deportation),” said Adanjesus Marin Director of Make the Road Pa, “and Trump has claimed that he has defeated ISIS and that mass deportations will be the next priority on his list.”
Trump’s Deportation Budget includes:
– $1.6 billion for construction of a border wall
– $4.4 billion for 44,000 detention beds mainly in private detention facilities
– $185.6 million to hire 1,000 additional ICE officers, 606 support staff and 129 Fugitive Operations teams
– $100 million to hire 500 new Border Patrol agents
– $131 million for E-Verify
Visually, these protests will feature pairs of shoes collected and displayed to symbolize missing relatives, friends, and loved ones because of these immigration policies. Under President Trump, immigration arrests of people with no criminal record have more than doubled.
With the healthcare battle temporarily over, Congress will be turning its attention to the federal budget after recess. The current federal fiscal year ends at the end of September, and in addition the debt ceiling must be raised by mid-October. Immigration enforcement promises to be a contentious component of that budget, and networks like #paresist and the Fair Immigration Reform Movement have called for no additional spending on deportation.
More about Make The Road PA at maketheroadpa.org
