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Dear Friend,
Thanks to the generosity of our faithful and supportive network of donors, our “Powered by the People” Annual Appeal has raised more than $186,000, or 47% of our $400,000 goal. This is a critical time for Freedom for Immigrants and for the movement.
FFI has officially entered its “chrysalis period” and will emerge with a renewed purpose and strategic plan that will enable us to more meaningfully contribute to the abolition movement. Giving to our Annual Appeal will sustain FFI during this critical moment of evolution and empower us to implement our bold future plans.
While we continue this vital internal work, our elected leaders have taken drastic steps to threaten the rights of our communities.
FFI Joins Immigration Activists to Advocate Against a Bipartisan, Anti-Immigrant Funding Deal
Since taking office, President Biden has consistently broken his promises to build a humane immigration system. His failed promise to end private immigration detention, for example, has stood out as a clear betrayal of the
policies he championed as a candidate. In the meantime, the number of people in detention has grown to almost 40,000, a nearly three-fold increase since Biden first took office. Now, Biden and Congressional leaders have joined forces in a bipartisan attempt to put
into law some of the worst policies of the Trump administration in exchange for short-term funding for wars abroad and immigration enforcement agencies like ICE and CBP. The deal, which is playing out in the process of the White House’s request that “supplemental” funding be added to the current budget, represents a lose-lose scenario for our communities. In essence, migrants are being treated as political pawns by both major parties in the negotiation process.
Proposed policies have included expanding detention to hold up to 50,000 people, decimating the asylum system as we know it, granting new executive powers to close the border, and undermining due process and fairness in the
asylum process by raising the standard for seeking asylum. On top of these draconian policies, the supplemental funding bill would pour billions of more dollars into ICE and CBP to bolster anti-immigrant policies like deportations. To help defeat this dangerous proposal,
the Freedom for Immigrants community is taking action. FFI supporters have called and written to their elected representatives and are taking part in digital actions across social media. Meanwhile, FFI team members have joined hundreds of partners for rallies and advocacy days on Capitol Hill.
Last month,staff took part in actions that culminated in visiting all 100 Senate offices, where negotiations had been taking place, to talk with Senate staffers about the dangers of the proposal.
Thanks in part to our advocacy, many of the cruel, Trump-inspired proposals appear to be dead, with no chance of making it to President Biden’s desk. However, our work is not over. These inhumane policies have bipartisan support, and Senate leaders may still allow additional
anti-immigrant amendments to be attached to the supplemental deal. But either way, we know this funding bill would pump more money into agencies like ICE and CBP — making its passage, in any form, inherently wrong and harmful.
In solidarity
Andrea Carcamo Policy Director Freedom for Immigrants
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