1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

END ICE. INCREASE PROTECTION OF ALL PEOPLE WHO ARE IN THE UNITED STATES BY DEVELOPING LAWS TO REIN IN THE BRUTAL AND VIOLENT CULTURE OF ICE. This week three people have died at the hands of ICE, at least 9 in the last year and half. Fifty-two people have died in DHS immigration detention facilities. Published documents show that hundreds of immigrants and US citizens have been injured this near due to less than lethal force techniques against protesters. These deaths and injuries are not caused by “lack of training” or just car stops. The person who killed Renee Goode was a 20-year veteran of immigration control and a trainer. The deaths and injuries are due to a culture infused with dehumanization of immigrants ,all non-white people, and anyone who supports immigrants. The deaths are caused by a culture and likely specific direction from leaders to use violence (hand to hand combat, less than lethal force and lethal force) to apprehend anyone who meets a profile and anyone who protests or interferes with apprehension. Th objective of ICE is not to improve safety in our country. People who are being killed, detained, injured are overwhelmingly harmless productive members of their communities. The objective is to execute a racist xenophobic campaign of creating a false boogeyman and use indemnified behavior to publicly harm the boogeyman to show power. This is an age-old disgusting strategy of authoritarians that kills and harms human beings. Congress must develop laws to end this filth in our nation’s history. This includes: 1) PASS IMMIGRATION REFORM LAWS, 2) Pass laws that require ICE to operate with all of the constraints and accountability of all police organizations in the country, 3) pass laws requiring every step of due process to be followed for anyone regardless of citizenship status in every aspect of identifying people as targets, apprehending them and detaining them. 4) Bring all detention centers under strict auditing and control. The short answer is to abolish ICE and for-profit detention centers. It is clear that reform is not possible. Begin again based on a mandate that all people who are in this country have human and legal rights. Violators of these rights will be prosecuted. It is quite simple.