1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

I am writing to demand that you take immediate and forceful action against the authoritarian measures currently being deployed in Minneapolis and across the country. The situation has reached a crisis point that requires urgent congressional intervention. In Minneapolis, ICE agents are patrolling streets, pulling people from cars, using chokeholds, demanding proof of citizenship from residents, deploying unmarked vehicles, and using tear gas and pepper spray against protesters. A middle-class white woman was shot and killed in broad daylight. Renee Good, a mother of three, lost her life. These are not abstract policy debates. These are American citizens being terrorized in their own communities. Beyond Minneapolis, the administration has launched criminal investigations against the Federal Reserve Board chairman for not lowering interest rates quickly enough, against members of Congress for advising soldiers they need not follow illegal orders, and against Minnesota's governor and Minneapolis's mayor for refusing to cooperate with these operations. The Justice Department searched a Washington Post reporter's home and seized her devices. A factory worker lost his job for publicly criticizing the president. These actions mirror the tactics used by Bull Connor against civil rights protesters in Birmingham in the 1960s, when peaceful demonstrators were met with firehoses, attack dogs, and violence. That movement succeeded because Americans of conscience refused to remain silent when confronted with injustice. I need you to publicly condemn these actions immediately. Introduce or co-sponsor legislation to restrict the use of federal agents for domestic law enforcement operations without local cooperation. Launch congressional investigations into the use of force in Minneapolis and the targeting of journalists and political opponents. Use every procedural tool available to block funding for these operations. History will judge those who remained silent during this moment. I expect you to stand unequivocally for democracy, the rule of law, and the safety of American citizens.