Indivisibles,

We want to talk to you about 20-20.

Yes, all eyes are glued to Trump’s replacement but that isn’t the 20-20 we’re talking about right now. 20 years and 20 days. These are two numbers that have plagued Trump’s deportation machine since he began his attack on immigrants. 

We’re talking about a shift in a 20-year national policy, known as the Flores Agreement, that would upend a body of rules for detaining migrant children (and families) meant to mitigate the physical and emotional damage caused by prolonged detention. 

20 days. This is how long the government is currently allowed to detain migrant children, a policy they’ve failed time and time again to comply with. Instead, for more than a year, the Trump administration has pressed the courts and Congress to remove the court-ordered mandate. The new limit they’re proposing? INDEFINITELY.

You read that correctly. Our calls for the Trump Administration to end family separation and the caging of children has been met with a plan to endlessly continue and expand upon the horrendous conditions immigrant families have been facing. 

But there’s more (yes, seriously). At the very same time Trump and Stephen Miller are moving forward with indefinite detention, and mere weeks before Congress is set to return from August recess and debate funding for government agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), ICE is making a move (also known as its transfer and reprogramming authority) to steal funds from other agencies just like they did in 2018.

That’s right: ICE is trying to go around Congress’ authority to decide how much funding they should receive so that they can expand their abuses like the raids in Mississippi and caging people indefinitely in concentration camps. 

Both of these developments are unacceptable. And, every member of Congress has to be ready to fight back.

Three things you can do to #DefundHate right now

House Democrats must act during this year’s appropriations process to reduce funding to ICE and CBP and to rein in the worst abuses of these agencies. That’s why we’re planning a massive week of action September 9-13 to show up and demand our members of Congress act to defund Trump’s racist deportation machine. Here’s what you can do to hold them accountable:

1. Record a video to put pressure on your House representative. We’ve made it easy: grab your phone and record your message on why ICE and CBP must be brought to heel. Post it on social and tag your member of Congress. Get your Facebook friends and Twitter followers involved and take control of the narrative.
2. Call your member of Congress right now at 1-844-909-0232 and demand that they reject ICE’s attempt to steal money from other agencies. It is unacceptable that ICE is subverting Congress’ authority to decide how much funding they should receive. We’ll give you a script and connect you directly with your representative’s office.
3. Get up-to-speed using our one-stop shop Defund Hate toolkit with guidance on everything you need to plan or find a September Defund Hate Week of Action (Sept 9-13!) event near you.

While Democratic control of the House has given us a firewall against some of the worst Republican attacks, Trump’s attacks against immigrants will continue unless we take action to ensure Trump won’t receive another dime to build his deportation machine. 

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team