1. United States
2. Ala.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to vote against the $1.2 trillion funding package if it includes appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security. The Senate must act before Friday's shutdown deadline to ensure accountability for immigration enforcement agencies that have killed two American citizens this month. On Saturday, federal immigration agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse and U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis. This follows the January 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer, also in Minneapolis. These are not isolated incidents requiring internal review. They represent a pattern of violence against Americans that demands immediate congressional action. Federal agents cannot murder people in broad daylight and face zero consequences. The current DHS funding bill provides hundreds of billions of dollars to an agency whose officers have killed two citizens in three weeks without establishing any guardrails or accountability measures. Continuing to fund ICE under these circumstances sends a clear message that American lives are expendable in pursuit of immigration enforcement. I understand the House approved this package on Thursday and that avoiding a shutdown requires 60 votes in the Senate. However, preventing a shutdown cannot come at the cost of funding an agency actively killing citizens. Several senators, including Angus King, Amy Klobuchar, Patty Murray, and Catherine Cortez Masto, have already announced their opposition to the package with DHS funding included. The solution is straightforward. Take up DHS funding separately with accountability provisions and guardrails, as Senator King suggested. Pass the remaining appropriations for Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Education, State, and Treasury to keep the government functioning while addressing the crisis at DHS. I urge you to vote no on any funding package that includes DHS appropriations without accountability measures for the officers who killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good.