1. United States
2. Wisc.
3. Letter

I urge you to vote against the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill before the January 30 deadline. The recent fatal shootings of American citizens by federal immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis demonstrate that ICE and Border Patrol require fundamental reform before receiving additional funding. On January 7, an ICE officer killed Renee Good in South Minneapolis. On Saturday morning, a Border Patrol agent shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an intensive care nurse, during targeted immigration enforcement operations. Both victims were American citizens. These deaths occurred within weeks of each other in the same city, and an ICE officer also shot a Venezuelan migrant in the leg during this period. This pattern of violence against both citizens and immigrants reveals a systemic problem that cannot be addressed through business as usual. The Trump administration has deployed 3,000 federal agents from ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection throughout Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge. This massive deployment has created a climate of fear and tension, culminating in thousands of protesters demonstrating against these operations and hundreds of businesses closing in solidarity. Even Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana called the events "incredibly disturbing" and stated that "the credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake." Providing funding without accountability measures or reforms would signal approval of these tactics. The current bill is inadequate to address the abuses occurring in American cities. ICE has demonstrated it cannot be trusted with expanded resources when agents are killing citizens during immigration enforcement operations that should not involve American citizens at all. I ask you to vote no on the DHS appropriations bill and support separating DHS funding from other federal department appropriations so that 96 percent of the government can be funded while Congress addresses the urgent need for immigration enforcement reform. American citizens should not die during immigration operations.