Emergency aid for migrants divides Democrats
WASHINGTON — Congress is trying to rush $4.5 billion in emergency humanitarian aid to the southwestern border while placing new restrictions on President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, spurred on by disturbing images of suffering migrant families and of children living in squalor in overcrowded detention facilities.
But with a House vote on the package planned for Tuesday, some Democrats are revolting over the measure, fearing that the aid will be used to carry out Trump's aggressive tactics, including deportation raids that he has promised will begin within two weeks. Republicans are siding with the White House, which on Monday threatened a veto. They oppose restrictions in the measure that are meant to dictate better standards for facilities that hold migrant children and to bar the money from being used for enforcing immigration law.
Those twin challenges have left the fate of the bill up in the air, even as evidence of deplorable conditions at the border underscores both the urgent need for the money and the bitter rift over Trump's policies.
Officials confirmed Monday that hundreds of migrant children had been transferred out of a Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, where they did not have soap, toothbrushes, clean clothes or enough food. The move followed detailed reports about dismal conditions: no diapers for toddlers and children as young as eight caring for infants.
Those reports led to a backlash from elected officials and a rise in donations to immigrant advocacy groups aimed at sending supplies to the shelter. Officials said only 30 children remain in the Clint station, which was intended as a temporary holding center. Children are supposed to be transferred out after 72 hours, but many had been held there for weeks.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi huddled privately into the evening with concerned Democrats on Monday to try to keep the bill on track, with little time to spare.
'Democrats distrust this president because we have seen his cruel immigration policies and lawless behavior terrorize our constituents,' Rep. Nita M. Lowey of New York, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, said Monday evening as she pleaded with fellow Democrats to support the package. 'That is why we have language to stop transfers of money for immigration raids and detention beds. But we cannot allow our anger at this president to blind us to the horrific conditions at facilities along the border as the agencies run out of money.'
The aid package poses a difficult dilemma for Democrats, who are torn between their desire to champion humanitarian help for migrants and their concern that any money they approve will be used by the Trump administration to advance what they consider to be a fundamentally inhumane set of policies. They are also loath to be seen as the ones holding up soap, diapers and food for babies, keenly aware that Trump and his team are eager to blame Democrats for the dire conditions.
'The administration chooses to direct the vast majority of funding toward enforcement, and then cries poverty when it comes to diapers and food,' said Heidi Altman, the policy director at the liberal National Immigrant Justice Center. 'It's a hostage-taking way of engaging in policy.'
Hispanic-American lawmakers are particularly split; some are arguing that it is crucial to get the aid to agencies and outside groups assisting migrants at the border, while others say they will not be complicit in sending any money to the very departments that have carried out Trump's harsh initiatives against immigrants.
'I will not fund another dime to allow ICE to continue its manipulative tactics,' Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Monday evening on her way into the meeting in Pelosi's Capitol office.
The gathering stretched on for more than an hour as lawmakers aired their differences and complaints about the package. 'It's intense,' Rep. Tony Cárdenas, D-Calif., said as he emerged from the session, saying he was leaning toward supporting the aid. 'No yelling, no screaming, but it's intense.'
Several members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus are pushing to attach stricter conditions to the money, including higher humanitarian standards for facilities that hold migrant children.
But given the urgent nature of the situation facing migrants, some lawmakers, particularly those from districts on the border, said there was no time to hold out for such additions.
'Are there things I would like to change? Absolutely,' said Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, whose El Paso district abuts the border. 'But we have a real crisis.'
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