AILA Calls on Congress to Reject Reckless Immigration Spending Without Oversight

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) urges Congress to reject the House reconciliation budget bill unless it imposes strict oversight over immigration enforcement funding. The current proposal hands the Trump administration a blank check of up to $200 billion for mass deportations, without adequate protections for due process and without transparency, risking widespread abuses and grave errors.

This unprecedented expansion of enforcement authority would be funded by deep cuts to Social Security and other critical domestic programs that millions of working-class Americans rely on. Such a trade-off is unacceptable.

America needs an immigration system that is properly resourced to ensure safe, orderly migration and protect national security—not a system driven by chaos, fear, and lawlessness. Mass deportations are already harming American families and businesses, with U.S. citizens and lawful immigrants wrongly detained, deported without hearings, and denied basic constitutional protections. The current system is riddled with "administrative errors" happening at an alarming rate, with virtually no accountability.

Providing $200 billion in unchecked funding for a broken, abusive system would be an act of congressional malpractice. Congress must demand transparency, accountability, and real guardrails to ensure any immigration funding respects the rule of law, guarantees due process, and serves the public good.

Moreover, the proposed budget imposes crushing new fees on dozens of legal immigration applications, effectively shutting out many families, businesses, and asylum seekers from lawful pathways. It would stifle American economic growth, tear families apart, and betray the values that have made America strong.