1. United States
2. Kan.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to support defunding Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a necessary measure to protect free and fair elections from federal voter intimidation. On his War Room podcast, Steve Bannon, President Trump's former chief strategist, explicitly stated his intention to deploy ICE agents to polling locations during the 2026 midterm elections, declaring "You're damn right we're gonna have ICE surround the polls come November." This follows President Trump's repeated calls this week for federal takeover of elections, stating "The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting" on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Bannon went further, proposing deployment of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions under the Insurrection Act "around every poll." These are not empty threats. Trump has already demonstrated willingness to weaponize federal agencies against election administration. His administration deployed FBI agents to raid an elections office in Georgia to seize ballots and voting records based on a discredited conspiracy theory. The Justice Department has launched an aggressive campaign to acquire voter rolls from states Democrats won in 2024. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker warned months ago about potential deployment of federal personnel to polling locations under the pretense of "protecting the vote," and Bannon's statements confirm these fears. The presence of armed federal immigration agents at polling places would constitute blatant voter intimidation, particularly in communities of color and immigrant communities. This would fundamentally undermine the constitutional right to vote. Bannon justified this deployment by claiming to prevent voter fraud, despite no federal law requiring voter identification and no evidence of widespread fraud. Defunding ICE removes the administration's ability to execute this unconstitutional plan. Without funding, ICE cannot deploy agents to surround polling locations as Bannon promises. I urge you to support any appropriations measures that eliminate or drastically reduce ICE funding to safeguard our democratic process from federal interference and intimidation.