NILC Responds to Trump Budget Proposal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16, 2017

CONTACT
Juan Gastelum, [email protected], 213-375-3149

NILC Responds to Trump Budget Proposal

NEW YORK — The Trump administration on Thursday released a budget proposal for next fiscal year that would dramatically retool government priorities, slashing funds for nearly all federal agencies in order to increase defense and security spending. In addition, the administration requested billions in additional funding for immigrant detention and deportation for this fiscal year.

The proposal would shortchange a wide swath of services and programs intended to improve and protect the lives of working-class Americans, including educational, cultural, environmental, and safety-net programs. All told, the Trump administration asks for more than $7.5 billion to help enact President Trump’s mass deportation agenda and to start construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Jackie Vimo, economic justice policy analyst at the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement:

“The Trump budget provides the latest window into this administration’s disturbing penchant for the politics of fear and hate, and puts the president’s disregard for working families on full display. Trump is attempting to rob all Americans of investment in our communities to enact his mass deportation agenda and perpetuate the terror he’s already imposing on immigrant communities. Rather than throw away billions of dollars to separate families and build a border wall that will do nothing for our national security, we should be looking for the best ways to ensure that everyone in our communities has access to resources that will help set them up for success.”

# # #