Understanding President Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Agenda in Congress: A Series of Resources

With Congress back in session, legislators are considering several proposals that are aligned with the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant agenda. Congress will debate several of President Trump’s proposals in the coming weeks: funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border; hiring 500 additional Border Patrol agents in 2018; and expanding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation force with 1,600 new hires in 2018. These debates will take place in the context of the urgent need to reinstate protections for hundreds of thousands of young people whose futures are threatened by the administration’s termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Today, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a leading research and advocacy organization with decades of experience in human rights in the Americas and U.S.-Latin America migration, is publishing several guides for journalists, policymakers, scholars, advocates, and others who are tracking U.S. border security and immigration policy. These resources (which we will continue to update over time) include:

• Anti-Immigrant Legislation Tracker: An interactive, regularly updated piece by WOLA Senior Associate for Defense Oversight Adam Isacson, examining where the various border security and immigration bills moving through Congress currently stand, what will likely happen next, and what actions you can take to support a less wasteful and more humane border policy.

• Four Common Misconceptions about Increasing the Border Patrol: Another interactive piece by Isacson, analyzing why an across-the-board expansion of the Border Patrol is a misguided, ineffective approach towards dealing with the new reality of U.S.-Mexico border security.

• How to Protect DACA While Actually Securing the Border: In-depth analysis by Isacson specifying what type of spending would actually serve U.S. interests and help make the border safer, should Congress approve a build-up in exchange for Trump supporting DACA.

• Border Build-up and Deportations in the Homeland Security Bill: In-depth analysis by Isacson and WOLA Senior Associate for Mexico and Migrant Rights Maureen Meyer, detailing why the White House’s proposed border security build-up and increased deportation force is a costly, counterproductive, and inhumane set of measures that would accomplish little, other than wasting money and throwing thousands of lives into upheaval.

WOLA’s Beyond the Wall Campaign is taking a stand to prevent anti-immigrant hatred from becoming policy.

Join Us