@ShingoMouse@mastodon.social#ImmigrantRights #RefugeeRights #RefugeesWelcome #HumanRights #TakeAction Fund communities, not immigrant detention and Pentagon contractors
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/fund-communities-not-immigrant-detention-and-pentagon-contractors-2
actionnetwork.orgFund communities, not immigrant detention and Pentagon contractors House Republicans want to cut food assistance and health care to increase Pentagon funding by at least $150 billion and ICE funding by $175 billion―and both are in departments that have never passed a “clean audit.”
These huge increases in funding are a slush fund for wasteful Pentagon contractors and private prisons used for detention and family separation, and come at the expense of programs like SNAP, Medicaid, and education programs.
Trillions of dollars spent―and unaccounted for―undermines our security by preventing us from investing in the shared prosperity that comes from more housing, climate and public health protections, ending hunger, improving access to care, and more education.
By now we’ve all read the reports of how federal contractors are price gouging the Pentagon by up to 40% in some cases. In fact, so-called defense corporations like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrum Grumman get roughly half of the nearly $900 billion Pentagon budget every year.
Much of this additional funding will also go towards paying for private prisons and detention centers used for family separation and mass deportations―and the corporations who own those prisons are seeing their profits soar.
After giving $2 million to Republican PACs, the head of a private prison company named the GEO Group, reported they were getting an unprecedented interest in new contracts, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this before.” A report from the National Immigrant Justice Center revealed that immigrants in privately owned detention centers face a myriad of mistreatment and abuses including punitive use of solitary confinement, lack of due process, and discriminatory treatment towards people who identify as LGBTQ.
Congress needs to hear from you now.
Click “Start Writing” to urge Congress to reject extra funding for ICE and the Pentagon and invest in our communities instead. If Congress is looking for ways to cut waste, fraud, and abuse―start by looking at the Pentagon.