O'Rourke: We need you to #DefundHate
(Photo: Beto O'Rourke (right) and fellow Texas congressman Will Hurd.)
At the same time that the U.S. is facing devastating natural disasters and budget cuts to vital services (healthcare, education, environmental protection), the Trump administration and Congress are pouring billions of dollars into prisons, militarized policing and surveillance, and the border wall. This is a critical moment in determining whether our society will be free and welcoming or an exclusionary, carceral nightmare in the decades to come.
Especially here on the border, we must demand that our elected officials lead the fight for a better society. The Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee calls on Rep. Beto O'Rourke and all of our officials to #DefundHate: Not one cent to Trump's deportation machine! Not one cent to detention facilities, Border Patrol, ICE, or the wall!
DMSC's Lulú Ortiz writes in the El Paso Times:
[O'Rourke] has supported the hundreds-of-thousands of migrants across our country who came here as children and are seeking a pathway to citizenship through the DREAM Act. He voted against the billions of dollars our federal government wants to spend on Trump’s border wall.
But at his recent town hall meeting, Rep. O’Rourke refused to commit to opposing all increases for Trump’s deportation machine.
With O’Rourke running for the U.S. Senate, now more than ever, we need his unequivocal opposition to President Trump’s proposed budget increases for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol. And we don’t only need his vote, we need his strong leadership to stop the attacks on migrants.
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In December, Congress will vote on a 20 percent budget increase for ICE and CBP. Meanwhile, programs El Paso families actually need – like the Children’s Health Insurance Program or school lunches – remain on the chopping block.
El Paso is one of our nation’s largest border cities and is home to tens of thousands of migrants. El Pasoans need O’Rourke to not only vote in our interests, but also to stand up and speak out loudly about why funding the deportation machine instead of infrastructure and the programs our families need to thrive is not only poor planning, but amoral.
O’Rourke needs to tell our stories to the world, to reach out to members of his own party and across the aisle and build support for our values and our communities. If Nancy Pelosi can commit to passing a DREAM Act without inflating ICE and CBP, we should expect no less from our own representative in Congress.
He doesn’t need to wait to become a U.S. senator to take action. In fact, El Pasoans cannot afford to wait.
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TAKE ACTION:
Call Beto O'Rourke and Will Hurd (O'Rourke represents El Paso, Will Hurd represents a huge swath from the Lower Valley in El Paso County to San Antonio) and tell them to #DefundHate: No money to prisons, walls or Trump's deportation force! Pass a clean DREAM Act and grant relief to all migrants!
Beto O'Rourke (D-TX)
El Paso: 915-541-1400
D.C.: 202-225-4831
Will Hurd (R-TX)
Socorro: 915-235-6421
D.C.: 202-225-4511