1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

As you negotiate the remaining appropriations for Fiscal Year 2026 before the end of this month, I urge you to oppose any resolution that continues funding ICE in its current form. Recent events make clear something that we have seen since the first focused incursion in Los Angeles: that ICE is no longer functioning as a lawful, accountable immigration enforcement agency. Its operations have escalated into violence against civilians, widespread constitutional violations, and an alarming politicization of federal law enforcement. In Minnesota, large-scale ICE deployments have coincided with fatal shootings, repeated use-of-force incidents, and sustained unrest—all of which which senior administration officials have denied! —rather than accountability. The federal response has included threats to invoke the Insurrection Act, preparations for deploying active-duty military forces domestically, and criminal probes targeting elected officials who have publicly opposed ICE operations. At the same time, federal authorities have refused to open an investigation into the ICE agent who killed a civilian during an enforcement action. This pattern reflects an agency operating without transparency, oversight, or respect for constitutional limits. Congress has both the authority and the responsibility to act. The power of the purse exists precisely to prevent executive abuse and to enforce accountability when federal agencies violate the public trust. I urge you to deny funding for ICE in any new budget resolution unless Congress first acts to dissolve the agency as currently constituted and replace it with a humane, civilian immigration enforcement system grounded in the rule of law, due process, and constitutional protections.