1. United States
2. Mass.
3. Letter

Please oppose the confirmation of Markwayne Mullin and any other DHS official and do everything in your power as a senator to stop them from moving forward until the White House accepts significant, enforceable restraints on ICE and CBP. Kristi Noem’s tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security was marked by state violence against the public, intentional cruelty against our neighbors, and contempt for our fundamental values, basic rights and the very idea of accountability. Her removal was long overdue, but no one is fool enough to believe this administration is actually changing course. The terrorizing of our communities by masked thugs and the lawless abduction of our friends into a detention camp archipelago is Trump policy, and it will go on as they think they can get away it, under Mullin as it was under Noem. Immigration enforcement must be brought back into the bounds of the Constitution, public safety and common decency. As polling bears out, this is not a radical or unreasonable position, and we will not accept anything less. Our demands include: ·       Repealing the $75 billion slush fund for ICE and $65 billion slush fund for CBP ·       Significant reductions in funding for detention and removal ·       Ending family detention ·       Addressing the overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, lack of adequate food and medical care at detention facilities ·       Securing access to counsel and due process for those held in detention facilities ·       Transparency at detention facilities and meaningful, enforceable penalties for obstructing congressional oversight ·       Allowing state and local governments to keep detention facilities out of their communities ·       Limiting the use of guns and military equipment by ICE during civil actions and codifying a clear use-of-force standard for ICE and CBP agents ·       Restricting Border Patrol activity to the border and getting them out of our cities ·       Congressional investigations of every ICE and CBP agent who has broken the law and every death in their custody ·       Required federal cooperation with state and local investigations into their misconduct ·       Ending qualified immunity for ICE and CBP agents ·       A restoration of the Bivens remedy, allowing us to file suits for damages against ICE and CBP agents violating our civil rights ·       Banning immigration agents from wearing masks and requiring they display clear identification ·       Banning immigration agents from conducting arrests or home searches without judicial warrants ·       Banning ICE or Border Patrol enforcement at schools, day cares, hospitals, houses of worship, courthouses and other sensitive locations ·       Banning ICE and CBP from targeting people based on race, language, accent, place of employment or location at time of apprehension – no more Kavanaugh stops ·       Meaningful, enforceable penalties for violation of these bans ·       The removal of Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller, Border Czar Tom Homan, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott from their jobs These are the changes we need at the Department of Homeland Security, not a different signature on the secret memos. What is happening right now is not normal. It is a threat to our freedom and our very lives. It is the responsibility of our elected officials to use whatever leverage is available to them to stop it. Do not squander it.