John,

Congress has 10 calendar days left to pass a budget and avoid a partial government shutdown. While the clock is ticking, House Speaker Mike Johnson wants to revive Trump-era immigration policies like restricting asylum, expanding expedited removal, and detaining families.¹

Speaker Johnson is doing this because House Republicans are threatening to shut down the federal government or stall other must-pass legislation if Democrats don’t pass H.R. 2―an extreme anti-immigration bill that would end the asylum process as we know it and restart family separation.²

We know from previous years that Black, brown, and Indigenous immigrants will be the most harmed by these measures that will do nothing but endanger lives. We cannot allow extremists to shut down the federal government and cut off funding to essential programs, just so they can terrorize vulnerable populations.

Negotiations are still underway and time is of the essence. Send a direct message to Congress now, telling them to oppose permanent changes to immigration laws that tear families apart and make asylum nearly impossible for tens of thousands of people.

Inhumane immigration enforcement policies―like the ones included in H.R. 2―threaten the unity, health, and well-being of tens of thousands of immigrant families―including 5 million children who have at least one undocumented parent.³

Asylum-seekers and their supporters are in Washington now, telling how they fled threats of death. Some have spent years wrongly held in detention, separated from their children. We must tell Congress we stand with them.

H.R. 2 doesn’t provide a path for citizenship, would fast-track the deportations of unaccompanied minors, would require the federal government to wall off 900 of the 2,000 mile U.S./Mexico border, and would allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to close off the border entirely in order to block undocumented crossings.⁴

Let’s fix our immigration system so it meets the needs of our economy. Immigrants make our communities stronger throughout our country―major cities, small towns, and everywhere in between. Immigrants are our neighbors, classmates, doctors, workers. Congress should advance policies to allow immigrants to work, contribute to state economies, and address our labor shortages, as Republican governors from states like Utah and Indiana have already proposed. According to a December poll, 86% of self-identified Republicans support bipartisan immigration reforms that address labor needs, inflation, and existing foreign-born workers.

We must not allow families to be bargaining chips by ceding ground to right-wing extremists on immigration. The policies proposed by extremists in Congress aren’t only inhumane, but they have no proven effect of deterring immigration and they were already rightfully opposed during the Trump administration.

Click here to send a direct message to Congress demanding they reject any and all inhumane immigration policies.

Thank you for all you do,

Dominique Espinoza
Outreach and Engagement Specialist, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ Johnson signals openness to negotiate directly with White House
² 5 things to know about the border bill at the heart of GOP shutdown threats
³ Still at Risk: The Urgent Need to Address Immigration Enforcement’s Harms to Children
⁴ 5 things to know about the border bill at the heart of GOP shutdown threats