This legislative ask is designed to be shared with your members of Congress and their staff.
Congress is considering a reconciliation budget package that some say will make the United States more prosperous and safer. The reality is different. As the middle and working class face economic challenges, Congress isn’t prioritizing investments in education, healthcare, housing, living wages, and food security. Instead, they seek to divert funds from clean energy incentives and life-sustaining programs that help over 70 million people. Why? To fund up to $350 billion for the indiscriminate detention and deportation of longstanding neighbors.
Wall Street Journal polling from January 2025 shows most of the U.S. public doesn’t agree with this approach for all undocumented immigrants. It’s clear why. This trade-off will inflate costs, cause labor shortages, weaken industries, destabilize families, and fill communities with fear of unchecked enforcement operations. We all want a safe America. This isn’t the way – it will hurt our families, our economy, and our rights.
Oppose cutting vital social safety net programs to pay for indiscriminate immigration policies.
- American Families will Suffer: The reconciliation proposals will make it harder for working families to make ends meet. According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, sweeping deportation would raise prices by 9.1% by 2028. The housing crisis would worsen because we lost construction workers and housing costs rose. Over 5 million U.S. citizen children would be separated from their undocumented household members, causing emotional and economic disruption to families and communities.
- Too Great of an Economic Cost: In 2023, undocumented immigrants contributed over $89 billion in federal, state, and local taxes with a spending power of $299 billion. All while not participating in federal assistance programs. Removing immigrant workers, consumers, and business owners would cut the U.S. GDP by as much as 7.4% in the next three years. U.S. taxpayers cannot afford hundreds of billions toward immigration enforcement.
- Ineffective Overreach: Massive, unchecked deportation is reckless. Broad enforcement measures from the U.S. government infringe on the rights of sensitive locations like churches, detain citizens and veterans, and violate the rights and sovereignty of Native communities. All while U.S. military resources are misdirected to treat U.S. communities like a war zone.
Congress should not put the nation’s economic health at risk, tear families apart, and withhold critical safety net programs in exchange for an ineffective, short-sighted approach to the immigration system. We call on Congress to reject fiscally and morally irresponsible proposals and start with policies honoring the Light of every child of God. The United States needs to focus on modern migration management solutions that will build a secure, thriving, and compassionate United States for all.