The Advocates for Human Rights Decries Cruelty and Harm in House Budget Bill Passage
Minneapolis, MN -- The Advocates for Human Rights calls on the U.S. Senate to ensure that any budget deal upholds the rights of all people in the United States and to decisively reject the House budget that guts basic needs in order to fund bloated and harmful policies.
Time and again, political leaders claim to be protecting children and our most vulnerable. Yet, the U.S. House of Representatives this week passed a bill that abandons those values. With passage of this bill, Congress is demanding that Americans accept cuts to essential programs like Medicaid and SNAP that protect children, pregnant women, and our most vulnerable so they can continue throwing hundreds of billions of dollars at bloated and harmful immigration enforcement and detention schemes that have consistently proven ineffective.
What’s more, the House bill would impose exorbitant fees for immigration applications, effectively blocking people from applying for everything from green cards and work permits to critical protection from persecution or trafficking. Under the proposal, a veteran helping their Afghan translator apply for permanent residence in the U.S. would have to help them pay at least $1500 in unwaivable fees, and more than $500 every six-months for a work permit. The bill further includes an unwaivable $1000 fee for seeking protection from persecution and torture—making the U.S. one of only three countries to charge any fee.
This callous move by the House makes clear that they value cutting taxes on the wealthy over protecting families or freedom,” said Madeline Lohman, Advocacy and Policy Director at The Advocates for Human Rights. “These fees are so high that they would completely bar protection from persecution and family reunification for most people.”
Appallingly, the bill would demand a cash payment to the U.S. government of nearly $5000 for children found by U.S. courts to be in need of protection due to abuse, abandonment, or neglect. Desperate to afford the sky-high fees, children will be susceptible to false promises of assistance that lure them into trafficking and exploitation -the exact harms Congress and the Trump Administration claim their bloated immigration enforcement budget seeks to stop. The U.S. Senate must unequivocally reject this cruelty that endangers vulnerable children.
"The Advocates and immigration experts have routinely noted that underfunding and restricting lawful immigration pathways while throwing money at expulsion and detention capacity will never truly address immigration concerns in the U.S. Yet, Congress again appears willing to fund its failed approach to immigration -this time, by forcing the American people to give up Medicaid and SNAP protections that support pregnant women, our vulnerable communities, and children," said Lohman. "The passage of this budget is not only cruel, it is a shortsighted effort that will waste billions of taxpayer dollars, irreparably harm our communities, and put people at risk of trafficking and exploitation."
Americans have an opportunity to ask why Congress is demanding these sacrifices instead of delivering stronger, more supportive communities for all-and the U.S. Senate must take lead, rejecting the House's cruel and short-sighted policies, and delivering a budget that guarantees a better life for all.
