The US immigration system is being militarized. Now is the time to stand up | Kica Matos

Trump's budget bill is turbocharging an already brutal enforcement operation. We must meet the moment

On the Fourth of July, President Trump signed his sweeping signature domestic policy bill into law. He called it beautiful". I would call it a grave and existential threat to our already precarious democracy.

Perhaps the biggest headline to emerge from this bill is that it tears giant holes into our social safety net to ensure our nation's wealthiest could benefit from additional tax breaks. But for those of us on the frontlines of the fight to protect immigrants' rights, it signaled the further entrenchment of an authoritarian regime being created on the backs of immigrants. Irrespective of our immigration status or views on immigration, we should all be concerned because we will all be affected: the sheer quantity of resources set aside for immigration enforcement will turbocharge the militarization of our country.

Kica Matos is president of the National Immigration Law Center