Tell Our Senators: Vote YES to Reopen Government, NO to Harming Migrant Children & Asylum-Seekers

From the Coalition on Human Needs (http://www.chn.org):

Tell Senators Casey and Toomey to Vote Yes on Reopening the Government and No on Harm to Migrant Children and Asylum-Seekers.

This Thursday at 2:30 the Senate will vote on two competing bills to open the government. One is a clean funding bill that would open the government through February 8^th, allowing 800,000 federal employees to get back to work and get paid, while Congress negotiates a long-term solution. The other is an administration bill that would fund a border wall and jail thousands more immigrants, ban asylum for Central American children, and offer less protection for Dreamers and those in Temporary Protected Status (TPS) than the courts are providing now.

Call our Senators today (202-224-3121 A switchboard operator will connect you directly with your Senators) and tell them to vote FOR H.R. 268, short-term funding to reopen the federal government and provide disaster relief for hurricanes, wildfires, etc. and to vote NO on the administration spending bill with its anti-immigrant and border wall provisions. (Sample script below.) Alternatively, you can call them directly–find contact information:

• Senator Robert Casey: http://casey.senate.gov
• Senator Pat Toomey: http://toomey.senate.gov

It is outrageous that the administration made it seem as though it was offering new protections for immigrants who came here as children (protected by DACA) or those who left countries beset by disaster or violence (TPS). Instead it would seriously restrict existing protections. (For more information, see The Trump-McConnell Bill; Hard-Line Immigration Proposals Disguised.)

After a month of the shutdown, workers and their families are hurting, and services for the homeless, Native American health care, rental housing subsidies, nutrition programs, and public health and safety are increasingly threatened. Until Congress can pass full-year spending bills that do not harm immigrants, they should at least re-open government through February 8, and finish negotiating.

Sample script:

“I am a constituent of Senator [NAME]. I am asking the Senator to vote YES to advance a short-term spending bill to reopen government and to vote NO on the President’s demands for a wall and harsh anti-immigrant restrictions.”

Please help end this senseless shutdown that has harmed so many by calling your senators today!

Click here to see CHN’s Shutdown Resource Page.