This legislative ask is designed to be shared with your members of Congress and their staff.
The United States is facing a migration management crisis. The result? Dire restrictions on the fundamental right to seek asylum, migrants expelled to the dangerous conditions they fled, and at-risk populations from around the world forced stranded in Mexico while they await their immigration proceedings in the United States.
Invest in sustainable migration solutions and rescind funding for harmful enforcement and deterrence practices.
As a Quaker organization, we believe God cherishes all of humanity. We seek migration policies that uphold a calling to love thy neighbor: no exceptions (Matthew 22:37-39).
Instead, we face a moral crisis defined by physical barriers, drones, and the nation’s largest law enforcement agency stifling humanity at the U.S.-Mexico border. These militarized responses are misguided and costly shortcuts, rather than the effective migration management practices we need.
Escalating humanitarian crises—including war, environmental disasters, and human rights abuses—are contributing to unprecedented displacement. The solution isn’t to funnel billions of taxpayer dollars into cruel enforcement and deterrence practices.
The U.S. government has the capacity and responsibility to administer and maintain efficient and just migration rather than relying on fiscally irresponsible, antiquated, and harmful migration management approaches that abandon its asserted legacy as a country of immigrants.
Congress should:
- Embrace humane and practical border policies. U.S. border reception should integrate nonprofits and local stakeholders equipped to respond safely and humanely to the needs of migrating communities. Congress must not recreate policies, like the misused health code Title 42 or the Remain in Mexico policy, which expel those in need of refuge.
- Rein in immigration detention and prioritize cost‐efficient alternatives. The U.S. funds 34,000 daily detention beds—the largest detention system in the world. The U.S. should invest in non‐carceral, community‐based alternatives to detention led by nonprofits.
- Rescind the previous administration’s funding for the border wall and transfer funds to mitigate environmental harms caused by border infrastructure construction. Barriers and militarization are not solutions to forced migration stemming from humanitarian tragedies.
