1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to support defunding ICE and redirecting those public funds toward services that actually keep people safe. What we are living through is not normal. Families are being destabilized, communities are living in fear, and enormous sums of taxpayer money are being poured into an agency whose primary impact is harm, not safety. ICE has not made our communities safer. It has made them more traumatized, more divided, and more distrustful of public institutions. People do not need militarized enforcement to thrive. They need housing stability, healthcare, mental health support, education, and legal resources. Every dollar spent on ICE is a dollar taken away from systems that prevent harm before it happens. Defunding ICE is not about chaos. It is about choosing care over punishment and prevention over fear. As a constituent, I am deeply concerned by the normalization of cruelty in the name of enforcement. Detention, family separation, and the criminalization of migration create long-term damage that ripples through generations. These practices also make communities less likely to seek help, report crimes, or engage with public services, which undermines public safety for everyone. I am asking you to take a clear stand: reduce and ultimately eliminate funding for ICE, and reinvest those resources into community-based programs that support dignity, safety, and stability. This includes immigration legal services, trauma-informed care, housing assistance, and local initiatives that strengthen communities rather than terrorize them. Leadership means refusing to normalize harm simply because it has become familiar. Defunding ICE is a necessary step toward a more humane, effective, and just use of public funds. I urge you to act.