The Trump administration’s money grab away from FEMA and toward detention and the Return-to-Mexico program is unethical, wrong, and will result in more human rights abuses. But it’s also illegal. This thread will explain why. 1/ rollcall.com/news/whitehous…
The transfer notification DHS sent to Congress moves $155 million from FEMA to immigration hearing facilities for the “Migrant Protection Protocol,” a horrific program that forces asylum seekers to wait in Mexico in unimaginable danger: humanrightsfirst.org/resource/deliv…. 2/
Section 503 of the Fiscal Year 2019 DHS Appropriations Act gives DHS the authority to transfer and reprogram money between accounts up to certain amounts. 3/
503(d) says that “no funds shall be reprogrammed within or transferred between appropriations” unless Congress is notified by June 30th. This notification is dated July 26th. 4/
There are two exceptions to the June 30th deadline: 1) Sec. 503(d) - “in extraordinary circumstances that imminently threaten the safety of life or the protection of property”; 2) Sec. 208 - if the funds are for immigration detention. 5/
The transfer for MPP doesn’t fall in either exception. It’s not for detention. And it’s *definitely* not responsive to any emergency; on the contrary, MPP is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis on the border. The transfer is untimely, and therefore unlawful. 6/
There’s a separate argument for the transfer’s illegality, which is that it is DOJ and not DHS that is authorized by Congress to spend funds on the establishment and operation of immigration courts. 7/
Members of Congress should be demanding an immediate GAO investigation into the legality of this transfer. While continuing to call out the ways in which the full $271 transfer is also wrong, shameful, and abusive. #DefundHate 8/
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