Trump’s Budget Bill Would Explode Funding for ICE. Top Democrats Aren’t Talking About It.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson was wrangling votes for a massive budget bill Wednesday when House Democratic leaders gathered their caucus on the U S Capitol initiatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries D-N Y and other lawmakers denounced provisions in the bill that would leave million people uninsured while handing tax breaks to the wealthy They have attempted to adopt a tough posture against the sweeping measure and rebrand it as One Big Ugly Bill One big thrust of the bill wasn t mentioned however the billion that Republicans want to use on mass deportation and dividing line walls Related Trump s Budget Just Passed the Senate Brace for a Massive Increase in ICE Raids After taking a drubbing in the November vote Democratic leaders in Congress have been notably quiet about the bill s efforts to turbocharge Trump s immigration crackdown That has frustrated specific rank-and-file Democrats and advocates for immigrants who say that whatever polling advantage Republicans had on the issue is dwindling as fast as ICE raids multiply The polling made them nervous on immigration and they haven t quite recovered yet commented an Democratic immigration activist and former congressional staffer who requested anonymity to speak frankly about party leadership We need more polling and research to show them frankly because it s becoming extremely unpopular The photo op on the House initiatives had something in common with Jeffries s comment last month about the passage of the House version of the budget as well as a press conference that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer gave Tuesday about the Senate version None of them mentioned immigration The leaders offices did not respond to requests for comment but chosen political observers think the reason for the silence is clear enough Various consultants believe that Democrats lost in November because President Donald Trump successfully controlled the narrative by demonizing immigrants In other contexts especially when members of their caucuses have been personally threatened congressional Democratic leaders have taken opportunities to speak out about immigration like when Sen Alex Padilla D-Calif was handcuffed at a press conference held by Homeland Shield Secretary Kristi Noem or when first-term Rep LaMonica McIver D-New Jersey was arrested outside an ICE jail During the budget bill fight however party leadership has focused their messaging on massive cuts to Medicare Medicaid and Affordable Care Act plans and tax breaks for the uberwealthy From one perspective the Democrats messaging appears to have worked Polls show that the budget bill is generally unpopular with Americans Yet there are particular Democrats who believe that party leaders have missed an opportunity Have we talked about it enough No That s the honest truth declared Rep Delia Ramirez D-Ill Part of the difficulty we have had about immigration is we don t know how to talk about it This is not about what you think about the confines Do you stand up for humanity or not The White House still seems to believe that it has an advantage on the issue as evidenced by Vice President JD Vance s asserts on social media this week that Medicaid cuts are immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions Read Our Complete Coverage The War on Immigrants Yet while polls have shown that immigration is a relatively good issue for Trump that edge began to evaporate as his administration ramped up its immigration crackdown this spring The shift has come as masked immigration officers throw people to the ground in videotaped encounters and the administration locks up more day laborers farm workers and line cooks who don t have criminal records One Democratic pollster stated The Intercept that he believes leadership is solely focusing on the the greater part unpopular components of the bill rather than actively avoiding immigration If I was advising the Democrats I would say first and foremost talk about the Medicaid cuts because they are so deep declared Matt Barreto who worked for Kamala Harris s presidential campaign last year and Joe Biden s campaign in Yet the issue is not as clear-cut of a win for Republicans as Vance seems to think it is Barreto announced Yes maybe he is attempting to pull the focus back to immigration and if he does that I think that s problematic for the administration Barreto commented Why do you think the hotel workers and owners are coming out and saying Please stop deporting our staff our workers One immigration advocate revealed he understood why Democratic leaders have settled on their current message Still he disclosed that even in the minority Democratic members of Congress wield power to push back against the Trump administration by inspecting ICE facilities speaking out for detained immigrants and conducting oversight It is understandable the focus on other pieces in terms of Medicaid and these other issues that impact people across the board But I will say more generally it is incredibly needed for members of Congress to be focused on what s going on on immigration revealed Jesse Franzblau the associate director of initiative at the National Immigrant Justice Center Hours after the caucuswide press conference Wednesday a smaller group of progressive Democrats held a media event of their own along with advocates attempting to spotlight the bill s immigration provisions Rep Veronica Escobar a Democrat who represents a perimeter district in El Paso Texas declared there were far too multiple Americans who did not realize that the bill would dedicate billion toward supercharging an immigration detention system dominated by for-profit companies It is such an abomination that I think not enough people know about she declared The post Trump s Budget Bill Would Explode Funding for ICE Top Democrats Aren t Talking About It appeared first on The Intercept