1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

Last November, you joined with Republicans to end a weeks-long government shutdown without gaining much of anything in return. The continuing budget resolution, including funding for the Department of Homeland Security, will expire on January 30. Once again, Republicans will require at least seven Democratic votes in the Senate to reach the 60-vote threshold to bypass the filibuster. This time, no self-respecting Democrat should provide their vote. Please prove that you are a self-respecting Democrat. Barely 24 hours after Renee Good’s killing, federal agents shot a married couple in Portland, Oregon. And Trump’s open support for extrajudicial violence has further emboldened ICE, who openly threaten protesters or anyone who dares challenge their authority. The footage coming out of Minneapolis look disturbingly like scenes from an authoritarian dystopia. They are conducting warrantless door-to-door “searches,” like Soviet secret police. They are swarming vehicles and grabbing people they presume are here illegally as if they are suspected murderers or violent terrorists. ICE agents are seen on video threatening citizens. One even asked a woman if she'd “learned anything” from the past week, a chilling reference to Good’s killing. And yet many of the senators who capitulated to end the shutdown last fall seem ready to do so again. We will not forget your complicity if you do. You might argue there’s little Democrats can do to constrain Trump until they regain control of at least one chamber of Congress. But a relative lack of power does not obligate you to enable Trump’s malignant lawlessness. And yet, the day after Good was killed, you voted with a half dozen Democrats to confirm one of Trump’s judicial nominees, 53 to 40. What are we even doing here? It seems ridiculous that we even have to say this, but Democrats shouldn’t affirmatively fund a government that’s terrorizing their constituents with a secret police force, and ICE will come to Virginia. Vance has even lied that masked ICE agents enjoy “absolute immunity” when brutalizing residents of cities they weren’t invited to and aren’t welcome in. It would be a betrayal for you to cosign any of this. It’s also good politics. Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of Trump’s fascist overreach. Support for his immigration policies has steadily fallen over the past year. Recent polling now reveals a majority of Americans disapprove of ICE’s actions. Even if you are worried about what Trump and Republicans will do without the filibuster — and Trump has already demanded they end it — that isn’t a compelling argument for voting to fund this government. Trump is already violating the Constitution as a matter of course. I’ve heard claims that last year’s shutdown was still successful because it put the focus on healthcare; ICE warrants a similar spotlight. Accountability can’t wait. Trump’s poorly trained, radical thugs are invading American cities, and the regime’s response to Good’s killing indicates that there’s no level of violence they wouldn’t endorse.