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

There is no more room for euphemism, deflection, or bureaucratic language. What is happening inside facilities run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not an unfortunate byproduct of policy. It is the direct, foreseeable consequence of choices you have made—and continue to make. Every instance of hunger. Every untreated illness. Every preventable death. Every act of violence, including rape, molestation, and abuse. All of it belongs to you. You fund these detention systems. You authorize their expansion. You ignore documented reports of inhumane conditions. You sit through hearings, read briefings, and then choose—actively choose—not to act. That is not neutrality. That is complicity. When human beings are held in overcrowded, unsanitary, and under-supervised conditions, harm is not a possibility—it is a certainty. Experts have warned you. Whistleblowers have testified. Survivors have spoken. And still, the system persists exactly as designed: opaque, under-regulated, and shielded from meaningful accountability. Let’s be clear about something you may prefer to avoid: the people inside these facilities are in your custody. They are not free to leave. They cannot protect themselves. They rely entirely on the system you have constructed for their safety, dignity, and survival. When that system fails—and it has failed repeatedly—that failure is yours. Not abstractly. Not politically. Personally and institutionally. You cannot claim ignorance. You cannot claim surprise. And you cannot outsource responsibility to an agency you oversee and fund. The chain of accountability does not end with ICE—it leads directly to Congress. So here is what must happen: Shut it down. Release every individual currently held in these detention facilities unless you can guarantee, immediately and verifiably, conditions that meet basic human rights standards. Not promises. Not pilot programs. Not future reforms. Immediate action. Because until you do, every new report of suffering is not just another headline—it is another entry in a ledger of harm that you are writing in real time. History will not be kind about this moment. But more importantly, the people living through it right now cannot wait for history to pass judgment. They need action. You have the power to end this. The only question left is whether you have the will.