To: The United States House of Representatives
Take the Pork out of Immigration Reform
We, the undersigned, disagree that immigration reform should hinge on giant military spending and the militarization of the Mexican/United States border region.
We are against the $46 billion Corker-Hoeven "border surge" amendment that includes a $38 billion windfall for defense contractors—at our expense—and allows the use of weapons of war and spying (with the threat posed by those same weapons of war) upon the six million citizen-residents who call the border region home.
We are against the $46 billion Corker-Hoeven "border surge" amendment that includes a $38 billion windfall for defense contractors—at our expense—and allows the use of weapons of war and spying (with the threat posed by those same weapons of war) upon the six million citizen-residents who call the border region home.
Why is this important?
The Corker-Hoeven "border surge" amendment to the Senate immigration reform bill is uncalled for in a region where we are not at war, and it will put border community citizens’ constitutional rights to physical safety, property, peace, and privacy at risk further solely for corporate profit.
The Corker-Hoeven "border surge" amendment is nothing but a giant pork-barrel project created by Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and John Hoeven (R-ND), two self-professed fiscal conservatives. During this time of sequestration, where automatic budget cuts amounting to $85 billion will force layoffs of teachers and first responders and will reduce or cut many vital programs and jobs, it is unthinkable that this amendment was added to the bill in the eleventh hour, ostensibly to garner Conservative votes, but in reality, to give large defense contract campaign donors obscene profits at the taxpayers' and border communities' expense.
The current cost for Customs and Border Protection has doubled from $5.9 billion in 2003 to $12 billion per year now, while spending for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has grown from $3.3 billion over a decade to $5.6 billion today. With a total price tag to the American taxpayer of $17.6 billion, border residents today already say the current program is ineffective, lacks accountability, and has been implemented with no input from border-area officials. To add $46 billion more - including $38 billion in military expenditures - is virtual overkill, as Senator Corker himself commented. We agree.
American citizens should be very concerned that such huge, unwarranted expenditures were added to a bill that already has $17.6 billion in military expenditures for a branch of law-enforcement that historically has very little accountability, spends more than all branches of law enforcement combined, and uses its money in a region where there is no war or threat of war. Do we really want to spend $46 billion more to militarize our southern border and obliterate citizen privacy?
Just say NO to the Corker-Hoeven pork barrel amendment!
The Corker-Hoeven "border surge" amendment is nothing but a giant pork-barrel project created by Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and John Hoeven (R-ND), two self-professed fiscal conservatives. During this time of sequestration, where automatic budget cuts amounting to $85 billion will force layoffs of teachers and first responders and will reduce or cut many vital programs and jobs, it is unthinkable that this amendment was added to the bill in the eleventh hour, ostensibly to garner Conservative votes, but in reality, to give large defense contract campaign donors obscene profits at the taxpayers' and border communities' expense.
The current cost for Customs and Border Protection has doubled from $5.9 billion in 2003 to $12 billion per year now, while spending for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has grown from $3.3 billion over a decade to $5.6 billion today. With a total price tag to the American taxpayer of $17.6 billion, border residents today already say the current program is ineffective, lacks accountability, and has been implemented with no input from border-area officials. To add $46 billion more - including $38 billion in military expenditures - is virtual overkill, as Senator Corker himself commented. We agree.
American citizens should be very concerned that such huge, unwarranted expenditures were added to a bill that already has $17.6 billion in military expenditures for a branch of law-enforcement that historically has very little accountability, spends more than all branches of law enforcement combined, and uses its money in a region where there is no war or threat of war. Do we really want to spend $46 billion more to militarize our southern border and obliterate citizen privacy?
Just say NO to the Corker-Hoeven pork barrel amendment!