GOP’s Shutdown ‘Compromise’ Turbocharges ICE, Slashes Asylum Admissions
The Republican proposal to end the government shutdown would supersize Immigration and Customs Enforcement, giving the controversial agency more money than ever before to lock people up.
The Trump administration and congressional GOP allies are pitching legislation to end the longest federal government shutdown in history as a “compromise” with congressional Democrats. But a close examination of the 1,300-page proposal also reveals stipulations that would gut asylum protections for those seeking refuge in the United States—and leave tens of thousands of Central American minors stranded in countries where they face persecution, torture and death.
“This continues a clear pattern: slash refugee numbers both by lowering the overall cap and then by admitting fewer people than allowed under this new cap—whereas when it comes to ICE, the agency seeks to both raise the cap on how many people they can detain, and continually exceeds the congressionally mandated maximum number,” Todd Schulte, president of immigration advocacy group Fwd, told The Daily Beast.
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