Communities across the country are fighting to stop the expansion of immigration detention. Congress is considering a bill that would make detention facilities easier to build and much harder to stop.

As written the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA) would weaken the tools communities have to challenge detention projects and hold immigration agencies accountable. As the Trump Administration moves full steam ahead with its mass detention and deportation agenda, this bill would help cement the infrastructure needed to carry it out.

BAAJA would:

• Fundamentally undermine the ability of local governments and impacted communities to meaningfully weigh in on projects through the NEPA process by narrowing the categories of government actions that would even require NEPA review

• Eliminate courts’ authority to block a proposed detention center for its failure to notify the public, assess potential impacts, and provide meaningful public input, as is required under NEPA.

• Prevent the federal government, including future administrations, from rescinding or changing permit approvals for private detention centers once given

These are the very tools communities have used to fight detention expansion in states including Arizona, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, and Texas. Taking them away would leave communities with fewer ways to stop new facilities and challenge the harm they cause.

Write to your members of Congress now. Urge them to oppose BAAJA as written and protect communities’ ability to stop detention expansion.