1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to refuse funding for the Department of Homeland Security when the continuing budget resolution expires on January 30 unless significant reforms are enacted to stop ICE violence against American citizens. Last week, a masked ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old unarmed American mother, in Minneapolis while she sat in her car after dropping off her son at school. This is not an isolated incident. ICE agents have fired on at least nine people in their vehicles over the past four months, resulting in at least two deaths. Another shooting occurred in Portland, Oregon, and yet another in Minneapolis as this situation continues to escalate. The response from the Trump administration has been to smear Good as a "domestic terrorist" rather than hold agents accountable. The FBI has taken over the investigation from state officials, which appears designed to shield ICE from consequences. Meanwhile, ICE operations in Democratic cities resemble an occupation, with federal agents conducting warrantless door-to-door searches, swarming vehicles, and threatening citizens. Schools in Minneapolis closed last week because children were not safe. Republicans will need at least seven Democratic votes in the Senate to reach the 60-vote threshold to bypass the filibuster. This is your leverage. Senator Chris Murphy is rallying Democrats around legislation requiring DHS to obtain warrants for arrests not at the border, restricting Border Patrol operations to the actual border, limiting ICE's use of firearms in routine civil matters, and requiring ICE agents to wear identification and remain unmasked when on duty. This is both morally necessary and politically sound. Support for Trump's immigration policies has steadily fallen, with a majority of Americans now disapproving of ICE's actions. If Trump insists on waging this unpopular war against American citizens, Republicans should have to kill the filibuster and pass a spending bill themselves. Do not affirmatively fund a government terrorizing your constituents.