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Fear of immigrants was a central policy that won the presidential election for Donald Trump. According to Trump and Stephen Miller, immigrants are criminals who are stealing our wealth, our jobs, and our economic security. With the budget reconciliation bill, that fear is coming true.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, posted on Bluesky that the Budget Bill provides an additional $45 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain migrants, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion. It adds $14.4 billion for transportation and removal on top of the current annual budget of $750 million. It also adds $8 billion for new ICE hires and retention. Remember that while giving tax cuts to the super wealthy, this bill also cuts funding for Medicaid/MaineCare, SNAP, and even Medicare, essentially moving it into ICE.
Looks to me that Trump’s prediction has come true. Except now it’s the government that is robbing us in order to imprison innocent immigrants who work in our restaurants, agricultural fields, clean our hotels, and staff our healthcare facilities. Next time, we should be more careful of what we fear.
Eleanor Weisman
Belfast