Washington, DC — The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) issued the following statement after the Senate approved funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) while withholding enforcement funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol:
"Public safety and the rule of law are not competing values; they rise or fall together," said Ben Johnson, Executive Director of AILA. "Withholding ICE and Border Patrol enforcement funding is a necessary response to repeated, documented abuses and DHS leadership’s refusal to accept basic legal constraints such as judicial warrants, transparency, and consequences for unlawful arrests. No law enforcement agency should be funded without being required to follow the Constitution and the law."
"This bill doesn’t yet include the policy reforms needed to stop unlawful and dangerous actions by ICE and Border Patrol," Johnson continued. "The fight does not end with a temporary funding deal; it ends when these agencies are held to the same standards as every other law enforcement agency. Congress must deliver binding protections, real transparency, and meaningful oversight."
AILA continues to urge Congress to pass reforms to stop the abuses and make Americans safe as expressed in this letter.
