CONTACT: media@vera.org

WASHINGTON, DC – President Trump signed a budget bill to provide an additional $70 billion for federal immigration operations, with no reforms or guardrails. The surplus will be added to the more than $170 billion Congress gave the agencies last year, funding the president’s detention, deportation, and family separation agenda for the remainder of his term. In light of the ever-rising ICE detention death toll and new “mega master” hearings in immigration court, the Fairness to Freedom campaign condemns this reckless, irresponsible allocation of public dollars that will be used to further attack due process and terrorize communities nationwide.

Nicole Melaku and Shayna Kessler, co-leaders of the Fairness to Freedom campaign for universal representation, issued the following statements:

Nicole Melaku, executive director of the National Partnership for New Americans: “Congress and the White House have chosen to ignore the nation’s cries for ‘ICE out’ of our communities. Using public dollars to further expand the mass deportation machine is an unacceptable misalignment with the people’s priorities. While health care, the cost of living, and civil rights continue to be top concerns for the American people, this Congress further cements ICE as the largest enforcement agency in U.S. history. Instead of funding detention camps and attacks on due process, Congress should be protecting families and upholding the Constitution by investing in access to legal representation for people in immigration proceedings. When workers, breadwinners, and caregivers are represented, it can mean the difference between remaining rooted in community or being torn from loved ones and livelihoods; it can mean the difference between life or death.”

Shayna Kessler, director of the Advancing Universal Representation initiative at the Vera Institute of Justice: “Instead of advancing solutions that promote due process and public health and safety, nearly all Republicans in Congress have chosen to further empower rogue immigration agencies. Tens of thousands of people—including babies and children, breadwinners and parents—are languishing in ICE detention and being denied a fair chance to defend their rights. Congress must claw back this harmful investment and instead invest in the resources that people need to create safe and stable communities: health care, education, nutrition, housing, and the infrastructure necessary to uphold and protect people's constitutional rights.”

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Fairness to Freedom: The Campaign for Universal Representation was launched by the National Partnership for New Americans and the Vera Institute of Justice in April 2022 with a coalition of more than 200 organizations and legal service providers. The campaign’s goal is to support the passage of the Fairness to Freedom Act to establish a federal right to representation for all immigrants facing deportation.