ACLU-NJ Leader has a Message for Americans of Conscience
NEWARK - Amol Sinha, executive director of ACLU-NJ, this afternoon joined U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) at Newark Liberty International Airport to strongly condemn President Donald J. Trump's deployment of ICE agents to the facility as the President squats on the federal budget and blames Democrats.
"Trump has been investing more taxpayer dollars into ICE and they have used it to violate the Constitution and to kill people, including American citizens," Sinha told InsiderNJ. "To now deploy them at airports because of a manufactured crisis seems to be the most vile form of political retribution."
To Sinha's point, consider this from NPR:
Just 10 years ago, the annual budget for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, was less than $6 billion — notably smaller than other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. But ICE's budget has skyrocketed during President Trump's second term, becoming the highest-funded U.S. law enforcement agency, with $85 billion now at its disposal.
The windfall is thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, enacted last July. After hovering around the $10 billion mark for years, ICE's budget suddenly benefited from a meteoric spike.
Democrats continue to try to separate TSA, FEMA and other critical first responder funding from the budget, but Trump appears dug in.
Sinha said the President is determined to create fear.
"People are afraid of armed and masked agents," the ACLU executive director noted.
"It's going to take everybody to push back," he added, seeing opportune timing in this coming weekend's scheduled No Kings rallies across the country. "In this cruel moment we need every American of conscience to be out there speaking out. ...On the biggest day of mass mobilization, it's going to demonstrate the people of America are not with this president."
President Donald Trump signaled he is open to a $5 billion funding cut for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if the Senate passes the Save America Act, along with other amendments.
“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,'” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday night. “It is far more important than anything else we are doing in the Senate, and that includes giving these same terrible people, the Dems (who are to blame for this mess!), a Five Billion Dollar cut in ICE funding, a deal which, even when disguised as something else, is unacceptable to me and the American people – UNLESS it includes their approval of Voter I.D., (with picture!), Citizenship to Vote, No Mail-In Voting (with exceptions), All Paper Ballots, No Men In Women’s Sports, and No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our precious children.”
Democrats are determined to sink the SAVE America Act, which doesn't have enough support to pass. And Republicans have made clear they lack the votes to nuke the filibuster. They may, however, cancel recess if there’s still no deal by the end of this week.
