'Defund Hate' Campaign Takes on Immigration Enforcement

Harlem resident Michelle Thompson isn't an immigrant, but her parents are. They're from Jamaica.

"And I have been frightened actually, about what I've seen the federal government doing in terms of pulling people's citizenship away from them," said Thompson. "So I feel like I personally could be a step away from the consequences of these immigration actions."

Thompson is a member of the Harlem chapter of Indivisible, a progressive network that is helping mount a broad-based, week-long campaign, called Defund Hate, targeting members of Congress.  Participants are writing letters, posting videos on social, and demonstrating outside the offices of their representatives.

Mary Small, Indivisible's Legislative Director, said even Democrats who are pro-immigration enable agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection by greenlighting funding.

"All that money is, is policy in action. So one of the best ways to get closer to the root of cutting off the ability of these agencies to really commit the harms that they are, is to take away the financial resources that are available to them."

The campaign wants overall funding for ICE and CBP to be cut, as well as language in a Congressional Appropriations bill that would prevent ICE from taking money meant for other agencies. The campaign also wants to limit money for additional beds in detention facilities, for border agents or for the wall.

"Being undocumented, having family members that are undocumented, we need to make sure these agencies don't have any more money, to terrorize communities like mine, families like mine," said Yatziri Tovar, a spokesperson for Make the Road New York, which is also part of the campaign.

For activists like Tovar, the word 'hate' in Defund Hate isn't some abstraction. It specifically refers to government agencies. For some Democrats, however, slashing funding for government agencies that are at the center of the national security apparatus is likely to be off-putting, and could challenge the political viability of this campaign.