Indivisibles, 

Yesterday, the Senate voted to pass a package of five funding bills plus a temporary, continuing resolution that would fund DHS for two weeks. There’s a lot to unpack, but here’s what you need to know right now:

Democrats are finally taking this fight seriously, but we need them to hold the line. We cannot settle for empty reforms while ICE and CBP terrorize our communities, violate our constitutional rights, and kill innocent people. Democrats have the leverage to demand real restrictions on ICE and CBP, and they have two weeks to get the job done.  

The timeline and the wonky details

Thursday
The DHS bill that included more money for ICE, was packaged with five other bills funding other parts of the government like the Treasury Department and Health and Human Services. Democrats demanded that the funding package be split so the DHS bill could be renegotiated. Republicans refused, so on Thursday, Democrats blocked that funding package altogether. 

Friday
Eventually, Republicans agreed to split the package, but as part of the deal, Democrats voted for a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund DHS for two weeks. This will keep ICE and CBP operating as they are. That is bad, full stop. Every day these agencies are funded is another day they can continue to terrorize our communities. This is an all-hands-on-deck crisis.

Today
The two-week funding deal passed by the Senate needs to be voted on in the House. While we wait for the House to return to DC, the government is technically in a partial shutdown this weekend, but this shutdown won’t impact food assistance programs like SNAP and WIC, or Social Security payments, Medicare, and Medicaid.

What comes next
Republicans are on the backfoot. On Monday, when the House returns to DC, our intel is that this package will sail through. Then, our two week DHS countdown is on. 

In these two weeks, Democrats have an opportunity -- and a moral duty -- to press their advantage and not offer the GOP a single offramp. That means drawing firm red lines and conditioning their votes on real, ironclad restrictions on ICE and CBP.

Our demands

Many of the proposals we've seen floated on the Hill don’t do enough to protect our communities from ICE and Border Patrol. We need ICE and CBP out of our communities, real accountability for abuses, and clear guardrails to stop raids, profiling, and the occupation of our cities. At minimum, your senators should vote no on any DHS funding bill unless it: 

• Denies the Trump regime’s demands for increased DHS funding.
   
• Strengthens restrictions on ICE and Border Patrol’s ability to conduct dragnet arrest operations and target people based on their race, language or accent, or place of employment.
  
  
• Stops ICE or Border patrol enforcement at houses of worship, schools, day cares, and hospitals.
   
• Stops ICE or Border Patrol from enacting family detentions or increasing private detentions.
   
• Ends Border Patrol deployment to our cities and rejects its ever-expanding mandate in immigration enforcement.

How to take action 

Over the last few weeks, the public has made it overwhelmingly clear that they oppose ICE and CBP’s reign of terror and want to see Congress fight back. Now, Republicans are retreating, and Democrats are starting to find their spines. Our organized outrage is working.

But we cannot let up now and we cannot let Democrats settle for empty reforms. To secure real restrictions on ICE and CBP that will actually protect our communities, we need to keep up the pressure on Congress. 

1️⃣ Call your senators today. Use our updated call scripts to demand they vote no on any bill that gives ICE more money for their brutality or does not include serious restrictions to rein them in. 

2️⃣ Email all of your Members of Congress here and demand the same.  

3️⃣ Read and share our full explainer. For more information and more ways you can take action online and in your communities, check out our full explainer. 

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team