Washington, DC —The U.S. Senate returns this week to take up a funding package that would deliver more than $70 billion in new taxpayer dollars to expand mass deportation operations — on top of the more than $170 billion in enforcement funding already allocated last year. The legislation contains no meaningful accountability or reform measures for ICE or CBP. At the same time, conditions inside immigrant detention centers are drawing growing scrutiny, protests, and condemnation from lawmakers, medical professionals, and law enforcement leaders across the country.
Detainees at Delaney Hall in Newark, NJ are on a hunger and labor strike, now in its fifth day, citing reported infestations, inadequate medical care, and no air conditioning, with protests outside met by masked ICE agents deploying pepper spray and tasers. At the Desert View Annex in Adelanto, CA, at least 20 detainees launched a hunger strike citing a lack of medical care, unsafe drinking water, and mold. At Dilley, TX, more than 6,300 children have been detained since the start of Trump’s second term in facilities described by those inside as a trailer prison, with lights on 24 hours a day and children as young as two months old among those held. Meanwhile, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has threatened to halt processing of international travelers at Newark Airport amid the ongoing dispute with New Jersey officials over conditions at Delaney Hall.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“Not another dime for ICE — not while children are locked in trailer prisons, detainees are on hunger strike, and protesters are being pepper-sprayed for demanding basic decency. The Trump-Miller mass purge machine is running unchecked and Mullin isn’t bringing accountability. Instead this Administration continues draining resources from real public safety, separating American-born children from their parents, and spending millions on masked agents while American families are unable to make ends meet.
The Senate has a clear choice to make: side with the chaos and cruelty or listen to the American people. Poll after poll reveals that the public resoundingly rejects masked and armed agents inflicting random violence against immigrants and Americans alike. Americans want real accountability and reform and there is no version in Congress that reins in ICE and addresses the abuses we are witnessing. This administration has made clear that reform is not on the table. Congress should not give them another dime to prove it.”
