John,

Congress is likely to vote soon on a piece of legislation that would ban federal funding for any program that doesn’t exclude undocumented immigrants. Any city or state government that doesn’t immediately participate in the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign will be stripped of education, health, transportation, emergency assistance, and other funding that their residents pay taxes for.

The No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act would force cities and state governments across the country to participate in mass deportation actions or risk losing money for programs such as:

• Department of Education grants, National School Lunch Program funding, and other forms of federal support for schools, which are not allowed to refuse enrollment by undocumented students.

• Emergency Medicaid, which provides states with funding for emergency care for people ineligible for Medicaid due to their immigration status. In the case of public hospitals run by a city or county, all federal funding for uncompensated care, such as Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital Payments, could be at risk.

• The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, Commodity Supplemental Food Program, Emergency Food Assistance Program, and other nutrition programs that support food banks and other community partners that do not restrict help by immigration status.

• Violence Against Women Act grants, such as those supporting violence crisis centers that do not turn away people based on their immigration status.

Cutting funding for these programs would punish whole communities―taking away critical care and denying funds for schools and school meals for children. This would disproportionately impact low-income and marginalized Black and Brown communities, further deepening poverty and widening inequality.

Send a message to Congress today urging them to reject the No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act.

Here’s how this bill would punish whole communities or states, as our partners at the National Immigration Law Center pointed out:¹

“The funds stripped by this bill are those determined to be ‘for the benefit’ of undocumented immigrants, but the bill does not define ‘for the benefit’ except to note that it would include ‘provision of food, shelter, healthcare services, legal services, and transportation.’ The White House would have dangerously broad discretion in how it defines affected programs. With the Trump administration planning mass deportations and expressing a willingness to punish those that do not cooperate, states and localities that do not assist could find themselves losing significant funds.”

We must fight back against this dangerous government overreach that threatens to cause irreparable harm to communities across the country and sets a dangerous precedent of using federal funding as a weapon against local governments.

Join us in calling on Congress to reject the No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act today.

Thank you for all you do,

Dominique Espinoza
Policy and Strategic Partnerships Manager, CHN Action

¹ This Bill Would Slash City and State Funding for Not Facilitating Mass Deportations