After Democratic negotiators dropped their demand for a limit on how many immigrants the Trump administration can detain and agreed to provide over $1.3 billion for fencing and other barriers at the U.S.-Mexico border, immigrant rights advocates warned on Tuesday that Democrats are conceding far too much to President Donald Trump and handing "Nativist Republicans more money to jail and deport immigrants."
"Supporting a deal that allows the Trump administration to create further division across the border, increase the number of families and individuals being held prisoner in detention centers, and deport more immigrants back to danger is not an acceptable compromise."
--Democracy for America"By gifting this administration $1.3 billion for what is essentially a steel wall and the power to detain and deport an unlimited number of people, there's no other way to say it: Democrats would be throwing immigrants under the bus," Democracy for America (DFA) declared in an email to supporters.
The group continued:
This isn't just about stopping Trump's wall (which he's still threatening to build by declaring a ridiculous national emergency)--this is about standing on the right side of history, and standing with the most vulnerable.
Children, mothers, fathers, grandparents. Coming here in search for a better life, many seeking refuge from violence and threats to their lives back home.
The Trump administration has already separated thousands of families, admitting they lost countless children along the way. Multiple children have died in government custody. There are still no answers from this administration.
Supporting a deal that allows the Trump administration to create further division across the border, increase the number of families and individuals being held prisoner in detention centers, and deport more immigrants back to danger is not an acceptable compromise.
Indivisible echoed DFA's condemnation of the bipartisan agreement and urged people to call their members of Congress before the deal is finalized.
"This deal gives ground on immigration agents, border construction, and detention beds. And importantly, does nothing to rein in ICE abuses," said Indivisible, arguing that a clean continuing resolution to keep the government open would be better than a deal that provides more money for Trump's anti-immigrant agenda.
"This deal does nothing to prevent ICE from continuing to steal from other accounts to hold more people. It's estimated that Trump could use this as a blank check to transfer money to hold as many as 58,000 people," the group continued. "Bottom line: Trump's not getting what he wants in this deal and he won't be able to say he's fulfilled his campaign promise of building his hateful wall. He caused a lot of harm by shutting down the government trying to get it. But that doesn't mean it's a good deal."
With the government set to shut down again on Friday, Democratic and Republican negotiators said on Monday that they have reached an agreement "in principle" on a funding deal, but the details have not yet been completed.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he's "not happy" with the bipartisan plan, which right-wing provocateurs like Anne Coulter and Fox News' Sean Hannity are attacking as a cowardly capitulation by Republicans because it doesn't fund the president's border wall.
Despite such outrage from conservatives who have the president's ear, Trump didn't say he would veto the funding plan if it reaches his desk, and he is reportedly still considering taking executive action to build the wall--either by declaring a "national emergency," executive action, or through other unilateral maneuvers.
"White House officials have a roster of options they have been weighing that would employ the president's executive authority to secure money for a border wall," CNN reported on Tuesday. "Not all would require declaring a national emergency. The president is being urged by conservatives to take executive action in conjunction with signing the compromise legislation that would avert a government shutdown."
