1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

A federal judge recently had to temporarily suspend a Trump administration policy that required members of Congress to provide seven days' notice before visiting ICE facilities. This policy represents a deliberate attempt to obstruct congressional oversight and hide conditions inside detention centers from elected representatives and the public. When an administration blocks immediate access to facilities holding human beings in custody, it raises urgent questions about what they are trying to conceal. Congressional representatives have a constitutional duty to conduct oversight of executive agencies, and requiring advance notice gives ICE time to sanitize conditions before visits. This is not transparency. This is cover-up. The pattern of restricting access to ICE facilities suggests an agency operating without accountability. Detainees in ICE custody have reported inadequate medical care, family separations, and conditions that violate basic human dignity. When oversight is blocked, these abuses continue unchecked. No government agency holding people in custody should be allowed to operate in the shadows. I am calling on you to support the immediate disbandment of ICE. This agency has repeatedly demonstrated it cannot operate within constitutional bounds or basic human rights standards. The recent attempt to block congressional oversight is just the latest example of an agency that has become a threat to democratic accountability. Abolishing ICE does not mean abandoning immigration enforcement. It means creating a system that respects human rights, operates transparently, and allows for proper oversight. Other agencies managed immigration functions before ICE was created in 2003, and we can develop better approaches that do not rely on an agency that consistently violates civil liberties. I urge you to cosponsor legislation to disband ICE and work toward immigration enforcement that operates with transparency and respects human dignity. Your constituents deserve to know that government agencies are subject to oversight and accountability.