1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

On May 1, House Republicans killed an amendment that was an effort to block ICE from detaining or deporting U.S. citizens. The Trump administration has been flagrantly ignoring court orders and kidnapping and detaining migrants, legal residents, and U.S. citizens without due process. On April 5, Trump told reporters on Air Force One "we have some horrible criminals, American grown, born," and that he is "all for" sending them to prisons in El Salvador. "I don't know what the law says on that," he added. By allowing this administration to deport and detain anybody without due process, and offering no further protections for U.S. citizens, Congress is giving permission for this presidential administration to engage in complete authoritarianism. We have already witnessed people being detained and deported without due process for simply being Brown or expressing protected free speech. Young children who are U.S. citizens are being deported. These actions are tearing apart families and causing significant trauma and distress. We demand that you do everything in your power to uphold free speech and due process as outlined in the Constitution. Neglecting to do so will give way to more authoritarianism that will cause more violence and harm to people, until there is no one left to protect each other. The time to resist authoritarianism is yesterday, today, and every day until checks and balances and common sense, humane policies are restored.