Throughout the month of December, CPD Network partners and affiliates joined the Families Belong Together Coalition members to fight back against proposals from the federal administration for a  border wall and increased enforcement funding. The first of these actions was a lobby day hosted on December 6 by CPD affiliate CASA in Washington, DC, who teamed up with the National Domestic Workers Alliance and CPD staff members.

A week later, on December 12, to continue our efforts to build pressure, members of United We Dream, FIRM, Make the Road New York and CASA went inside a subcommittee hearing on the migrant caravan and walked out silently to protest the racist rhetoric of the federal administration. While this happened, members of the Birddog Nation waved pictures of migrant children at the hearing eventually getting arrested for civil disobedience.

Finally on December 20, members of CASA, Make the Road NY, United We Dream and The National Domestic Workers Alliance conducted a silent walk-out at hearings in Congress while Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen was testifying in order to condemn the continued push for wall funding and family separation. Following the walk-out, CPD Network members went to congressional offices and sang Christmas Carols that reinforced the need for immigrants to be welcomed in our communities, bolstering the resolve to reject any attempts to build a wall. At the same time, the Make the Road family, including Make the Road PA, Make the Road CT, Make the Road NJ and Make the Road NV, held actions in their states during the budget negotiations.