Action Alert: Call to End the Detention Bed Quota!
When Congress comes back from recess on September 8, they will only be in session for 12 days before funding for the government runs out. This likely means that a continuing resolution of the appropriations bill is just around the corner.
Join us in calling on lawmakers to get at least one thing right amidst the partisan budget wrangling, and end the detention bed quota. 
We know that:
  • The quota puts a price tag on immigrant lives. It leads ICE to treat immigrants as numbers to fill a quota and as products to be bought and sold, not as real people with children and loved ones depending on them.
  • It’s a complete aberration; no other law enforcement agency has a quota for the number of people it must jail.
  • It is fiscally irresponsible and wastes money. ICE spends over $2 billion each year on detention.
  • Money appropriated for the bed quota helps line the pockets of for-profit prison corporations that run 62% of all immigration jail beds.
  • Corporations lobby hard to keep the quota and protect their bottom line, but our Representatives should be accountable to us, not them!
     What is the amendment?
  • You can see Rep. Deutch's Amendment, but it couldn’t be simpler. It strikes  
    out this sentence from the bill: “[t]hat funding made available under this heading shall maintain a level of not less than 34,000 detention beds.” 
1.  Find your Representative.
2. Call your Representative today and tell him/her to support Rep. Deutch’s amendment to end the bed quota!
3. Sample script:
“Hi, my name is ____ and I’m calling from ____.  As a constituent, I would like to see Representative ____ take action to remove the immigration detention bed quota from the continuing resolution by supporting Representative Deutch’s bed quota amendment. The bed quota drives immigration enforcement, hurts immigrant communities, is a waste of taxpayer dollars, and helps line the pockets of private prison companies. For all these reasons, it’s time to get rid of this arbitrary and harmful quota. Is Representative ____ willing to support the bed quota amendment? [wait for an answer] Thank you.
www.detentionwatchnetwork.org
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