1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I am writing in response to the Senate’s approach of continuing to fund ICE while offering body cameras and additional training as evidence of reform. Body cameras and training are not accountability. They are process improvements without consequences. ICE has a documented history of abuse, deaths in custody, theft of personal property, and civil rights violations. Yet agents are rarely charged, disciplined, or held criminally responsible. Training does not matter when misconduct is tolerated. Cameras do not matter when footage is withheld, investigations go nowhere, and outcomes are predetermined. If training worked as advertised, these abuses would not be recurring. If body cameras created accountability, we would see prosecutions and firings instead of internal reviews that quietly absolve the agency. What Congress is offering instead is the appearance of concern while continuing to fund an organization that operates with near total impunity. Continuing to fund ICE while acknowledging its record sends a clear message. Harm is acceptable as long as it is documented and agents sit through another training module afterward. That is not reform. It is insulation from responsibility. Real accountability would include independent investigations, enforceable standards, transparent discipline, and a willingness to withdraw funding from agencies that repeatedly violate the law. Until those conditions exist, body cameras and training are not solutions. They are cover. I expect my senators to distinguish between meaningful oversight and performative fixes. I urge you to oppose continued funding for ICE absent real, enforceable accountability.