By
Lindsay Koshgarian
Posted:
|
Immigration
The $118 billion bill that Senate leaders put forward this week is a deal that never should have been made. The proposal puts the U.S. and world at greater risk for wider war, props up the inexcusable actions of the far-right Netanyahu government, and adopts a Trump-like approach to immigration.
Bad for Americans. The deal puts forward $118 billion for war and border militarization at a time when Congress budgeted to cut domestic services, including nutrition programs for women and children.
Bad for Immigrants. The bill embraces Trump’s immigration policies, restoring funds for a border wall, doubling down on immigrant detention, and gutting the legal asylum system.
Bad for Human Rights and the Rule of Law. The bill props up the far-right Netanyahu government’s assault on Gaza, which both the International Court of Justice and a U.S. Court have found to plausibly represent genocide.
Bad for Peace. The U.S. has launched new strikes in the Middle East with increasing frequency, and this bill’s support for the Israeli military will only inflame regional tensions more. And, this bill spends tens of billions more on the war in Ukraine with no exit strategy.
The bill strips funding for UNRWA, the main aid agency in Gaza, even as starvation mounts.
The bill has no legal paths to citizenship for millions of immigrants currently living, working, and contributing in this country - something that was part of the Biden agenda. There’s no due process for immigrants at the border. And there’s no provision to comply with international law by ensuring that migrants seeking asylum have their request considered.
There are also no provisions for how to end the war in Ukraine or the assault on Gaza, and no guardrails to avoid wider war in the Middle East, or in Europe.
Security for all means honoring legal immigration and paths to citizenship. It means not supporting genocidal actions by a far-right regime in Israel. And it means finding ways to end and prevent wars, rather than continuing on the path of endless war that the U.S. has followed for way too long.
