The Coalition on Human Needs sent the following letter to every Senate office to sound the alarm on a new provision (Section 202(9)) added to the reconciliation package that provides $350 million for ICE enforcement activities in jurisdictions (e.g. sanctuary cities) deemed insufficiently cooperative with the administration’s immigration agenda. This money could be used for mass enforcement actions, such as we’ve seen under Trump in Minnesota, Chicago, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. There is concern that it could be used for paramilitary mobilizations during elections.

June 4, 2026

Dear Senator,

On behalf of the Coalition on Human Needs and our 118 member organizations, we urge you to vote NO on final passage of the DHS reconciliation package. We also support any and all efforts, including amendments, that would permanently eliminate the administration’s proposed $1.776 billion “weaponization” slush fund and oppose amendments that further expand detention, deportation, enforcement authorities, or attacks on basic needs programs.

The Coalition on Human Needs unites human service providers, faith communities, labor organizations, policy experts, civil rights advocates, and many others who share a steadfast commitment to the well-being of people living with low incomes. Our members are united in opposition to this legislation because it asks Congress to provide at least $71 billion in additional funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) while families across the country struggle to afford housing, health care, food, child care, and other basic necessities.

This package represents a breathtaking expansion of detention, deportation, and enforcement infrastructure without meaningful accountability, transparency, or reform. Rather than addressing the urgent needs of families and communities, Congress is being asked to write a blank check for agencies that have repeatedly demonstrated disregard for human dignity, due process, and public accountability.

Members across our network have been sounding the alarm that escalating enforcement and detention actions are already compounding hardship in communities throughout the nation, including more than 250 organizations focused on children’s safety and well-being. Families are being separated, communities are living in fear, workers are disappearing from jobs, and children are suffering the consequences of aggressive enforcement actions. Expanding this machinery at an unprecedented scale will only deepen instability, trauma, and economic hardship while diverting precious resources away from urgent human needs.

Particularly alarming is a new provision (Section 202(9)) providing $350 million for ICE enforcement activities in jurisdictions deemed insufficiently cooperative with the administration’s immigration agenda. This provision takes the administration’s approach of ruling through retaliation to a dangerous new level. It would allow the federal government to target states and localities that decline to enter into certain immigration enforcement agreements by directing additional enforcement actions into those communities, broadening detention authority, and enabling prolonged detention with fewer opportunities for release.

Congress should not sanction the use of immigration enforcement as a tool of political punishment. Federal law enforcement resources should be deployed based on legitimate public needs, not used to pressure states, cities, and local governments into compliance with a particular administration’s political priorities. This provision risks creating a two-tiered system in which communities that disagree with federal policy become targets for intensified enforcement operations. Such an abuse of power has no place in a democratic society.

At the same time, we remain deeply concerned about efforts to preserve or recreate the administration’s proposed $1.776 billion “weaponization” fund. While administration officials have sent conflicting signals about the future of this proposal, Congress should reject any attempt to provide taxpayer-funded rewards to political allies under the guise of compensating alleged victims of prior administrations. We support amendments to this reconciliation bill that would prevent the establishment of such a fund. Congress must not authorize slush funds that operate outside normal standards of accountability, transparency, and oversight.

The administration’s actions in detention facilities and communities across the country have already demonstrated the dangers of granting expansive powers with insufficient constraints. Time and again, courts have been forced to intervene when executive actions exceeded legal limits. Yet rather than demanding accountability, this legislation would provide tens of billions of dollars to further expand the very systems responsible for these abuses.

We strongly urge you to reject amendments that would further extend detention and enforcement authorities, impose additional punitive immigration penalties, curtail immigrant families’ access to health care, nutrition assistance, housing, or other basic needs, or direct additional resources toward detention and deportation infrastructure. The regular appropriations process exists to provide transparency, accountability, and congressional oversight. These amendments would further weaken those safeguards while accelerating harmful policies.

We urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to vote NO on final passage of this package, oppose harmful immigration-related amendments, support all efforts to eliminate the administration’s slush fund, and reject this extraordinary expansion of detention and enforcement funding. Congress has both the opportunity and the obligation to invest in the health, stability, and economic security of families and communities—not to greenlight an increasingly aggressive enforcement apparatus that spreads fear, separates families, and diverts resources away from urgent human needs.