Sign onto the joint-statement of cross-movement solidarity!
Tell President Biden and Congress that our communities reject legislaiton and policies that fuel war, genocide, and violence at home and abroad. Click here
Divest from Militarism, Invest in Life: From Palestine to the Border Wall
Joint statement from immigrant, Palestinian, and allied justice groups
La declaración en español está disponible aquí
As the Biden administration and Senate Democrats indicate a willingness to advance cruel immigration proposals in order to pass a spending package that will send billions of dollars to Israel to continue its genocide in Gaza, we come together as a coalition of immigrant, Palestinian, and allied organizations dedicated to fighting for justice and liberation to categorically oppose all proposals fueling violence against our communities at home and abroad.
This month, Senate Democrats proposed a version of President Biden’s $106 billion so-called “national security” supplemental spending package, which would send $14.3 billion in weapons and military funding to Israel to fuel its genocidal attacks in Gaza, and nearly $8 billion for deadly enforcement and further militarization of the border. While the funding for Israel woefully has broad support among members of Congress, Senate Republicans blocked the passage of the bill, demanding the addition of sweeping policy changes that would eviscerate the U.S. asylum system, expedite deportations, increase immigrant detention, and even close our southern border to migration altogether. In response, President Biden and some Democratic members of Congress have publicly signaled a willingness to compromise and revive some of the most egregious Trump-era policies in order to appease Republican lawmakers and push through the requested foreign military funding.
More than 18,400 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military in just nine weeks, including over 8,000 children. And just as 2.3 million Palestinians are being killed en masse by the Israeli military and denied access to food, water, shelter, electricity, and medical care in Gaza – a place which has been described as the “world’s largest open air prison” – U.S. Border Patrol is holding migrants escaping the conditions created by U.S. imperialism in open-air detention centers at our southern border where they are being deprived food, water, shelter, and medical attention.
These parallels are not coincidental. We know that our struggle against genocide and militarism in Palestine is the same struggle against militarism here in the U.S. and at our southern border. We see the same technology used by the Israeli military against Palestinians used at our own borders; we see that the Israeli military trains our law enforcement, including ICE agents; we know that ethnic cleansing and mass displacement will always bring people in need face to face with our deadly immigration policies. The decisions to fund these systems are motivated by xenophobia, racism, anti-Blackness, and profit.
Through this package and the ensuing negotiations, our elected officials are crystallizing the connections we've understood to exist between broader struggles against racialized oppression within the U.S. and abroad. If we allow elected officials to achieve a deal, billions of our taxpayer dollars will fuel war and genocide, and consequently mass displacement abroad, while simultaneously closing the door to asylum and increasing the scale of state violence against our Black, brown, Indigenous, and migrant communities at home.
We will not allow our communities to be divided and conquered, or to be used as bargaining chips to push through deeply problematic and unpopular military aid.
We demand:
That Congress vote NO on the supplemental spending package, and reject all proposals and funding requests that further enable Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, the militarization of the U.S. southern border, and the persecution of immigrants here in the U.S.
An immediate permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid and services, and the immediate restoration of water, food, fuel, electricity, and internet.
That the U.S. government ends all support for the Israeli government’s apartheid regime, occupation, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
That the Biden administration and Congress advance legislation and policies that will strengthen our asylum system, end all forms of immigration detention, reduce backlogs for work permits, and bolster our refugee resettlement program.
That the Biden administration and Congress redirect billions of our taxpayer dollars away from war and militarism and into life-affirming services, including health care, housing, childcare, and education for all – foundational elements necessary to build healthy, thriving communities.
That all organizations and elected officials who claim to stand for immigrant, racial, labor, and climate justice oppose the supplemental spending package and speak out against attempts to use immigrant communities as bargaining chips and dehumanize Palestinians.
On December 11, organizers within our movements and allies disrupted the Senate to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and that our government divest from militarism, genocide and war, and invest in life, health care, housing and education. Immigrant rights advocates joining the action emphasized their solidarity with Palestinians and the connections between our struggles against imperialism and settler colonialism.
We must continue to make these critical connections between our struggles, or else we are doomed to replicate the systems of oppression inherent to a settler colonial world order in which none of us win. We refuse to buy into the scarcity mindset that intends to divide, conquer, and control our communities – the idea that in order to secure my liberation, I must be willing to sacrifice yours. True justice and liberation are total. We cannot presume to fight for justice for our people if we do not fight for the liberation of all peoples.
This understanding once reached dispels concerns over “compromising” our goals by speaking out in support of Palestinians, Black folks, or any other peoples. The consequences of our failure to speak out in solidarity with our comrades in liberation struggles is much more dangerous to us than the consequences of doing so.
Whatever the issue, the U.S. government responds with weapons and walls, but militarization, whether within our borders or abroad, has never made us safer. When our communities ask for resources that actually contribute to our safety and stability, we're told the money isn't there. Yet when it comes to war, surveillance, incarceration, and deportation, the resources are limitless.
We reject any legislation that invests our taxpayer dollars in weapons, incarceration, and militarism as a viable alternative for any of our communities. As long as those who were elected to represent us continue to ignore our demands and advance policies which harm our communities, we will continue disrupting. There will be no business as usual for the Biden administration and Congress until our calls are heeded.
Signing organizations
18 Million Rising
Action Center on Race and Economy (ACRE)
About Face: Veterans Against the War
Adalah Justice Project
Al Otro Lado
American Friends Service Committee
Athena Coalition
CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities
Causa Justa
Center For Popular Democracy
Communities United for Status & Protection (CUSP)
Democratic Socialists of America
Detention Watch Network
Detroit Action
Direct Action for Rights and Equality
Dissenters
DMV Dissenters
Dream Defenders
Equality Labs
Fight for the Future
Florida Immigrant Coalition
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
Hawaiʻi Peace & Justice
Highlander Research and Education Center
Indigenous Environmental Network
InterReligious Task Force on Central America
Jewish Voice for Peace
La ColectiVA
Lavender Phoenix
MADRE
Marianist Social Justice Collaborative Team
MediaJustice
Micronesia Climate Change Alliance
Movement for Black Lives (M4BL)
Movement Law Lab
MPower Change Action Fund
Muslims for Just Futures
National Immigration Project
New York Communities for Change
Pasifika Uprising
Puget Sound Sage
Resource Generation
Rising Majority
Showing Up for Racial Justice
Southerners On New Ground - Richmond Chapter
Stop Torture RI Coalition
Survivors Know
TakeAction Minnesota
The New Justice Project MN
The Organizing Center
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR)
Vital Immigrant Defense Advocacy and Services (VIDAS)