1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

My wife and I are shocked by recent videos of masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, with neither arrest warrants nor badges, violently pulling people off the street and taking them away in unmarked vehicles. The detained people have not been afforded due process, as required by the U.S. Constitution. They are being taken straight to detention centers. Without a hearing or trial, there is no way to determine what, if anything, they are guilty of. Without due process, these are not arrests. They are abductions. Without due process, they are rendered, not to jail, but to concentration camps, with no legal recourse. That is illegal and violates the Constitution. The optics of these abductions are something we have grown accustomed to seeing from Russia, with masked ‘little green men’ snatching people off the street. They are the optics of secret police in third-world countries. Without arrest warrants, badges or identification, how can we, or anyone, know for certain they are from ICE? They could be private security, They could be self-appointed paramilitary militia, with no legal standing. They could be misguided private citizens impersonating ICE agents. Armed people without arrest warrants, badges or identification accosting others in public spaces creates a scenario where an armed individual may resist them with violence, thus endangering the people around them. You, as a member of Congress, have the power to stop this. If these agents are indeed from ICE, insist they identify themselves properly and afford their detainees due process. If they are not from ICE, you must act immediately to stop them to ensure the safety of the general public. My wife and I implore you to use your power as a member of Congress to stop these illegal abductions and ensure America does not become an authoritarian state, where the rule of law can be brushed aside when inconvenient.