$70 Billion. Zero Accountability. Vote No.
LULAC, UnidosUS, and Mi Familia en Acción stood together on the Hill this week. Here's why and what we told Congress.
Yesterday, the steps of the U.S. Capitol looked different than they have in a long time.
Not because of the cameras. Not because of the lawmakers. Because of who stood shoulder to shoulder in front of them.
LULAC members who flew in from Texas, California, Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, Illinois, and beyond. UnidosUS leaders and affiliates representing its civil rights and advocacy network. Mi Familia en Acción constituents, mothers, fathers, organizers, voters, who traveled to Washington because their families are the ones living the consequences of what Congress is about to vote on.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus convened the press conference. Rep. Chuy Garcia (IL-04), Rep. Raul Ruiz (CA-25), Rep. Emily Randall (WA-06), and Rep. Juan Vargas (CA-52) spoke on behalf of their constituents and Latino community. All three organizations spoke with one voice.
That kind of unity is not symbolic. It is strategic.
What we came to say
Congressional Republicans are advancing a partisan reconciliation bill that would funnel more than $70 billion to the Department of Homeland Security in unchecked immigration enforcement funding. No guardrails. No accountability. No statutory restrictions on how the money is spent or who it targets.
It is a blank check for ICE and CBP. It doubles down on the same failed and unlawful mass deportation operation that has brought chaos and terror to communities from El Paso to Charlotte to Minneapolis.
We are urging every Senator and every Representative to vote no.
The economy Congress is choosing to ignore
Here is what Congressional Republicans are not doing while they fast-track this bill.
They are not addressing why gas prices are up more than 50 percent since the end of February. They are not addressing inflation that is now outpacing wage growth. They are not addressing why working families cannot afford groceries or health care.
Instead, they are routing tens of billions of dollars to the same agencies that have targeted Latino communities across the country, depressed local economies, and left people afraid to leave their homes to go to work, to school, or to church.
The priorities are clear. So is the math.
145,000 children
This week, the Brookings Institution published an analysis estimating that more than 145,000 U.S. citizen children have likely experienced the detention of a parent since this administration began its mass enforcement campaign. More than 22,000 of those children have had every parent in their household taken. More than a third are under the age of six.
145,000 American children. Separated from their parents. Many of them too young to understand why.
This is unconscionable. And Congress is about to write the check that pays for more of it.
What guardrails actually look like
Any new DHS funding must come with enforceable conditions written into the bill text. Not aspirational language. Not a press release from the Secretary. Statutory requirements, enforceable in court. We demand the following:
Clear agent identification.
Body cameras with public access.
Protections for sensitive locations — schools, churches, hospitals.
An end to racial profiling.
These are not radical demands. Every other federal law enforcement agency in the country already operates under standards like these. The question is whether Congress is willing to apply the same baseline to ICE and CBP.
The record we are keeping
If Congress approves another mass deportation blank check without reform, our communities will demand accountability. We will demand leaders who put the safety and well-being of their constituents first.
575,000 LULAC members, 421 councils in 32 states and 196 cities are organized. UnidosUS affiliates reach every major Latino population center in the country. Mi Familia en Acción has organizers in the communities feeling this most acutely.
We are keeping a record. Of who votes to fund agents without identification. Of who votes to fund raids on schools and churches. Of who chooses a blank check over a child’s constitutional rights.
That record will matter in 2026. It will matter in 2028. It will matter every time a member of Congress asks our communities for a vote.
What follows are my remarks as delivered yesterday at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus press briefing, presented unedited.
Remarks of Juan Proaño
CEO, League of United Latin American Citizens
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Press Briefing | U.S. Capitol | May 19, 2026
Thank you, Janet. And thank you, distinguished members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Chuy Garcia, Rep. Raul Ruiz, Rep. Emily Randall, and Rep. Juan Vargas.
My name is Juan Proaño, CEO, of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, the country’s oldest Latino civil rights organization.
Janet just laid out the policy stakes.
Now, let’s talk briefly about the constitutional provisions that DHS and ICE have violated with this funding:
The First Amendment, through retaliation against peaceful protestors, the use of tear gas, pepper spray, flashbangs, and arrests of journalists covering federal operations.
The Fourth Amendment, through warrantless arrests, racial profiling stops, and unreasonable seizures.
The Fifth Amendment, through the detention of U.S. citizens, the denial of due process, and the targeting of legal residents and asylum seekers with valid pending status.
The Tenth Amendment, through the federal commandeering of state and local police resources and disruption of local governance.
The Equal Protection guarantee, through the targeting of Black, Brown, Somali, and Latino communities based on appearance and language.
And the Administrative Procedure Act, through arbitrary and capricious action with no rulemaking, no public notice, and no oversight.
The minimum standards Janet outlined are not radical. They are directives every other federal law enforcement agency operates under. What we are asking for is:
Clear agent identification.
Body cameras with public access.
Protections for sensitive locations.
Judicial warrant requirements for home entry.
An end to racial profiling.
Now, Let’s talk about the consequences. Not here on the steps of the Capital but in our communities.
LULAC councils are reporting record call volume. A mother in Texas told one of our council presidents last week that she packed an emergency bag for her eight-year-old daughter. Not for a storm. For the possibility that mom does not come home from work.
Jose Hermosillo, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen, wrongfully incarcerated by immigration authorities in Arizona, who claimed he was undocumented. He was held for 10 days at Florence Correctional Center, because of how he looked and how he spoke.
Geraldo Campos, Heber Domínguez, Victor Díaz. Three men, three families, three funerals in one month, in facilities funded by the dollars Congress is about to appropriate more of.
And there are many more: Denny Gonzalez, Damien Betancourt, Alejandro Clemente, José Ramos-Solano, and Royer Perez-Jimenez, just to name a few.
LULAC is calling on every member of the United States Senate and House of Representatives to do four things.
One. Vote no on this reconciliation bill. No additional dollars for ICE or CBP without the statutory guardrails, written into the bill text, enforceable in court.
Two. Rescind the unobligated slush funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill. DHS is sitting on tens of billions of dollars with no statutory restrictions. Congress wrote that check. Congress can claw it back.
Three. Pass standalone legislation, not reconciliation, restoring judicial warrant requirements, mandating body cameras with public release, ending the masking of federal agents, and codifying sensitive-location protections.
Four. Use the oversight authority you already have. Subpoena the DHS Inspector General materials. Subpoena the use-of-force records. Compel testimony from the agents involved in the Good and Pretti killings. Investigate the 96 court order violations in Minnesota.
Our councils are organized. Our members are watching. We are keeping a record. Of who voted to fund agents without identification. Who voted to fund raids on schools and churches. Who chose a blank check over a child’s constitutional rights. That record will matter.
Gracias.