1. United States
2. Mass.
3. Letter

A government that cannot protect the lives and rights of people within its borders—citizens and non-citizens alike—has lost its claim to legitimacy. That is the reality Americans are confronting after the killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis by an ICE agent, and after years of mounting evidence that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has become an unaccountable, aggressive, and poorly supervised force operating far beyond its original mandate. Renee Good was an American citizen, a mother, and a legal observer. Her death is tragic, but it is not isolated. In 2025 alone, dozens of people died while in ICE custody or during ICE operations. Many had asked for medical help. Some were elderly. Some were ill. Others died violently. These are not the hallmarks of a professional law-enforcement agency operating with discipline and restraint. They are warning signs of systemic failure. This is not a question of being “pro-immigration” or “anti-immigration.” It is a question of whether the federal government is bound by the Constitution it claims to defend. Due process is not optional. Oversight is not optional. Accountability is not optional. An agency that routinely denies medical care, obstructs congressional oversight, escalates encounters, and responds to public scrutiny with secrecy and propaganda is an agency that cannot be trusted with expanded power. ICE did not exist before 2003. The United States enforced immigration law for generations without it. Congress created ICE, and Congress has the authority—and responsibility—to dismantle it when it becomes dangerous. Reorganizing or abolishing a failed bureaucracy is not radical; it is conservative governance at its best. Many Americans who believe in law and order also believe that law enforcement must be disciplined, professional, and subject to civilian control. A force that relies on fear, intimidation, and overwhelming presence undermines respect for the law rather than strengthening it. Flooding cities with heavily armed federal agents, while restricting congressional oversight and expanding recruitment through “wartime” rhetoric, is not strength. It is instability. I urge you to take the following actions: • Introduce and support legislation to dismantle ICE and redistribute any necessary functions under agencies with clear limits, transparent rules, and real oversight. • Freeze funding for ICE expansion and mass recruitment until Congress completes a full investigation into use-of-force policies, medical care failures, and detainee deaths. • Hold public hearings to restore congressional authority and reaffirm that no federal agency operates above the law. • Reassert that constitutional protections apply to all people on U.S. soil, because once rights become conditional, no one’s rights are safe. Strong nations are not built by unaccountable force. They are built by law, restraint, and respect for human dignity. Congress must act now—before more lives are lost.