1. United States
2. Ill.
3. Letter

This bill would force localities and states to choose between facilitating mass deportations or losing unrelated funding including Medicaid, disaster relief, the National School Lunch Program, Department of Transportation grants, and Violence Against Women Act grants. Tying critical funding streams for healthcare, nutrition assistance, infrastructure, and victim support services to harsh immigration policies unfairly penalizes communities and threatens their wellbeing and safety. This punitive approach places an undue burden on states and localities while instilling fear. Instead of this overreach, comprehensive immigration reform upholding human rights, inclusion and opportunity for all should be pursued.